You Can't Take the Sky From Me
by GypsyFirefly
Summary: The Doctor finds himself in corporate London where he meets a cautious, perceptive girl called Lucy Blake. He's a new Time Lord after Rose's exile, Martha's abrupt departure and Donna's tragic half-death. What could Lucy Blake possible be?
1. Lucy

Lucy Blake stared out her window for the umpteenth time that day. This was boring. Drudgery. Complete drudgery, the lot of it. For four years now, she'd been working at Thoreau Threads, Inc. She'd started out as an intern and finally worked her way up to designer in what was quickly becoming England's fastest growing design company. Lucy had been making her own clothes for years, mostly due to her small frame and family's lack of funds growing up. Upon graduating high school, Lucy skipped traditional University and went straight to interning at Thoreau Threads and taking courses in design thanks to a personal invitation by Thoreau's personal secretary, Jean Marsh. She'd been a friend of the family and recommended Lucy, ever so subtly when Mr. Thoreau was looking at prospective peons. Lucy didn't mind the tedious work, it was designing she wanted to get to more than anything. And for three and a half years, she worked herself to the bone performing the most menial tasks, all while managing to make a collection to show to Mr. Thoreau. Finally, six months ago, she'd presented her collection to him, and by some miracle, he was impressed and hired her as a head designer. The winter line was in full steam and Lucy couldn't be more bored. She'd been hoping for the glamourous world of models, photographers, cocktails and clothes, and instead, 22 year old Lucy got bleeding fingers and a cramp in her neck that she feared would never go away. The coat she was working on was nearly finished. She just needed to appliqué the rhinestones on the right shoulder and it would be perfectly garish. When she'd meekly come in to Mr. Thoreau's office to suggest something less haut couture, he'd laughed in her face and told her to mind her place. This was no time for Lucy to be thinking of changing careers. She had a good job at a posh industry, making enough money to send to her sister abroad in Mumbai and to pay off her classes. She'd just split with her boyfriend of two years, James, and the way they'd left things, there was no chance of getting any money from him. Lucy wished and had often done so, that she was more like her twin sister. They were identical, Lucy older than Juliet by five minutes. Juliet was flighty, spontaneous and often thought rules beneath her. It was this reckless abandon that Lucy so often craved. She was cool, calculating and patient. She thought things through, thought about all sides of everything before she did anything. That was one of the reasons she and James had spilt. He'd been unable to handle her inability to "leap without looking, to go the path untrod, to…" Oh, it was all bullocks, anyway, Lucy thought. It was just a coping mechanism, she told herself. While I'm afraid of everything, don't take chances, don't change my mind, Juliet leaps at everything and lives like she'll never wake up in the morning. Lucy thought, for the millionth time, of the thing she'd told herself never to think of again. Daddy, dearest. He'd enjoyed knocking their mother round enough, but when she couldn't get up anymore, it was Juliet and Lucy that felt his wrath. Emmeline Blake was mild-mannered, soft-spoken and gentle. Certainly, she was no match for Evan Blake's powerful fists. The former boxer had a drinking problem that manifested itself on his family. When Emmeline didn't do something fast enough for his liking, she got hit. When the girls cried, or threatened to tell someone, they got hit worse. It took Evan putting Emmeline in the hospital for the second time for her to leave him. She filed a divorce, a restraining order and eventually Evan Blake went to prison. That had been difficult explaining, growing up. She couldn't tell her friends where her father was, why he was away, why they'd moved so many times when they received the phone call that he'd been let out. She and Juliet were often the strange girls who didn't have a dad and whose mum was afraid of her own shadow. They'd grown up in poverty, Lucy making clothes for herself and Juliet. The girls had been raised on ballet, and until Lucy found designing, she'd wanted to do that more than anything.

Lucy snapped herself from her reverie as Jean Marsh walked by. The more distant Lucy got, the less favourable she was to Jean and therefore, Mr. Thoreau. Lucy wasn't sure she cared. She had spent so much time trying to make people like her, trying to impress them and it was so tiring. She caught a glimpse of herself in the hand mirror she used for tiny stitching. Black hair hung in thick, loose curls just below her shoulder blades. Her pale skin looked somewhat dry; even the scant freckles across her nose looked pale. Her eyes, grey blue, like the sea before a storm, were half glazed with tiredness. She hadn't slept in a while. She pursed her full lips, wiped a piece of thread off her straight nose and admired the prominent, angled cheekbones she and Juliet had gotten from their mother. The cheekbones and the grey blue eyes were the only thing they'd gotten from her. Everything else looked like their hateful father. Glancing at the retreating back of Jean Marsh, Lucy noticed someone she'd never seen in the office before. Never seen anywhere before. And Lucy noticed everything. He was tall, skinny, had spiky dark hair and even from across the room she could tell he had the most beautiful brown eyes. He was wearing a faded pinstriped suit with purple Converse. He was certainly not some fashion-forward client. Maybe he was a dissenting journalist here to comment on the extensive use of fur in this winter's line? Lucy herself had had some qualms with that. The tall stranger caught Lucy's eye and he winked. He managed to slip into Thoreau's office right behind Jean Marsh. God he was thin, Lucy thought. Blimey, he's like me. Lucy heard from the office raised, inquisitive voices. Clearly, the man had not gone unnoticed. She saw a strange blue light issue from the fogged glass window and rose out of her chair, looking round. Nobody else appeared to have noticed the strange goings on. Frowning, Lucy strode cautiously, but purposefully toward Thoreau's office door. She didn't know why. What could she do in the event of a struggle? Something was making her bolder and her new bold attitude wanted to know what. She pushed open the door, not locked by either Jean Marsh or the mystery man. Once inside, Lucy Blake was met with a strange sight. Both Mr. Thoreau and Jean Marsh were slumped on the floor, eyes open with confused, sedated looks on their faces. The tall, skinny man was bending over what looked like the designs for Fashion Week, here in London this time. The man looked up at her, at first concerned, then smiling. "There we are, all done."

"But, but what did you do? Who are you? Are they dead?"

The man put up his hands as if to ward off her questions. "One thing at a time. No, they're not dead, just stunned. Used my sonic screwdriver for that. You see, the winter fashion line up thingy you've got here has quite angered the Raxxons, they believe the fur you've used is baby Raxxon fur. I've obtained a sample, verified that it is in fact, minx and am going to send it straight to the Raxxons so they don't blow up the planet. Oh, and, I'm the Doctor." Lucy stared. And stared. Her mouth hung open for a while and then she looked down at the two slumped figures on the floor. "So, so they're gonna be alright?" she asked, surprised at the softness in her own voice. She had been losing what little love she'd had for the two of them. The Doctor nodded, his eyes never leaving her as she crossed the room, knelt down and put a hand to Jean's mouth. Yes, there was breath. And next to her she could just barely make out Mr. Thoreau's chest rising and falling. "So…Doctor, who are the Raxxons?" Now it was the Doctor's turn to look stunned.

"You're, you're not going to ask what I'm going on about? You're just going to take my explanation?"

"Well, Doctor, I'm a lot more perceptive than people think. I haven't been hiding my head in a hole for years; I know there are things out there I can't imagine. The Christmas star, those mad Father Christmas's, all those ghosts and Cybermen and, and those other things with the plungers on at Canary Warf. Aliens exist, whether we like it or not. I've always said it's mad, arrogant even to think that in the whole wide universe, Earth is the only planet with life. Take you for example, you don't seem…human. You're eyes are far too old for you, and you're talking about Raxxons like you're discussing the weather with an old mate. So tell me, Doctor. What, or who, are the Raxxons?" The Doctor stared in stunned silence. After a moment, he blinked and said,

"The Raxxons are a, well, a hasty race. They live on the planet Rax and have a fur on them very similar to minx. They act before they think, as I just told you, they've sent an envoy to me. They think of me as some sort of an ambassador and I told them I'd make sure the humans weren't using Raxxon fur for their clothes. Never mind the fact that Raxxon and humans have never made contact." Lucy laughed and the Doctor looked up, disappointment in his eyes. No doubt he thought she'd finally accepted that he was crazy and was about to call the authorities. When he looked down, Lucy said, "Reminds me of my sister." The Doctor looked up again, confused. "My twin, Juliet. She always acts before she thinks, never stops to consider what she might do." It hurt to talk about Juliet to the Doctor and she didn't know why. Maybe it was because she never talked about anything to anyone and starting with a stranger was like pouring lemon juice into a fresh cut. But that was just her cynical side. The Doctor looked her over, appraising her, mulling over some moral issue or something. Then, at long last he said, "You never told me your name."

"It's Lucy. Lucy Blake."

"Well, Lucy, Lucy Blake," he said, fixing her with those impossible eyes. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Where? I'm in the middle of work in case you hadn't noticed. Where could we go?"

The Doctor smiled and it took years off his face, he looked like a boy. "Everywhere. We could go everywhere."

Outside Thoreau Threads, Inc. Lucy Blake was running to catch up with the man who called himself the Doctor. This man had burst into her life not thirty minutes ago, but she knew, she just knew that he was safe. He was home. She had never been one to throw away everything for a boy, but she could make an exception, besides, he was no boy, no man, he was an alien. The Doctor came to a halt, and Lucy, not expecting it, crashed into him. He lunged forward into the door of…of….what _was_ that?

"Police box, what's a police box?"

"Well they used to have them in the sixties but the camouflage on my ship malfunctioned. Long time ago. Anyway this is my ship." He grabbed her by the hand and drew her inside. Lucy held her breath, sure this was going to be uncomfortable, sure this would be a deal breaker. She opened her eyes to find a room nearly as big as her whole office. "Dear god….it's, it's bigger on the inside!" She said in a hushed voice. The Doctor looked at her with practiced patience and said, "Right you are, Lucy Blake. Now, where do you wanna go?"


	2. Journey

Lucy looked at the Doctor in a puzzled manner. "Where do I want to go? Well, everywhere! My sister's traveling the world and I just never really had the guts to go after her." The Doctor nodded sagely and then put the tips of his fingers to his lips, palms pressed together, almost like he was praying. "Keep in mind, Miss Blake" he said "that this is a time machine as well. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. That's T.A.R.D.I.S. We can go anywhere or anywhen in the universe."

"You're joking." Lucy said matter-of-factly. "Okay, now I get it. You've been taking the mickey out of the whole time. Any_when?_ Impossible." The Doctor regarded her with a look of complete earnestness and the two just stared at each other for a long time.

"Fine." Lucy said, breaking the silence. "Fine. I want to go to Tiananmen Square. You know when." The Doctor's face fell. Lucy raised an eyebrow, sure she had called his bluff and that he was about to admit that he couldn't really take her back or forward in time. Then, looking down, voice almost a whisper, he said, "Alright, I'll take you. But I'm warning you, I've been and it's not pretty." Lucy's jaw actually dropped.

"You mean… this is for real? We can really go to Tiananmen Square? But, but no one knows what really happened, not for sure anyway. I mean, sure, there are stories, and, and that famous picture of the man staring down the tanks, but God. You're really telling me you take me there and I can see what happened to all those people."

"I'm really telling you I can take you there and you can see what happened to all those people." The Doctor replied. Lucy suppressed a smile. What happened was horrible. Unrest between the People's Republic of China and the actual people of China caused several peaceful and non peaceful demonstrations in 1989, mostly in Tiananmen Square, but also in areas around Beijing and Shanghai. On June 3rd, some 100,000 people were reported to have gathered in the Square. The Army came and started killing people, and soon tanks as well. By June 4th, the Square was completely empty. The next day June 5th, Lucy's birthday, incidentally, the event would be forever immortalized by one man. While Lucy's mind was reeling, the Doctor was walking slowly about the T.A.R.D.I.S., pulling levers and pushing buttons. With a jolt that knocked Lucy off her feet, the ship took off. The Doctor strode over without a word and picked her up by her elbow. Lucy stared at this man, that in less than half an hour had changed her entire life, forever. He was frowning, and those eyes that captivated her looked older than ever. She wondered vaguely if he was mad at her. She had asked him to show her a terrible event and perhaps he wasn't up to it. Perhaps he thought her morbid curiosity repulsive. Or perhaps, he wasn't mad at all and Lucy was, again, reading too much into things. There was another abrupt jolt, this time with Lucy managing to stay on her feet, and they stopped. The Doctor walked to the wooden doors that looked so curious in contrast to the rest of the room and turned to her. "I'm going to warn you again, Lucy. What happened here was nothing short of a nightmare. This has nothing to do with aliens, monsters, anything like that. However" and now he looked stern, like he was her father, chastising her, "this is probably one of the most terrible things you will ever experience." Doubtful, Lucy thought. She'd been through a lot, abusive father besides. The Doctor turned once more, ducking out the door and into the world beyond. Lucy followed, trepidation filling her every pore.

Lucy Blake was met with bodies pressing in on her, moving all as one. People were everywhere, some laughing and talking, others looking sombre, mournful, even. As they walked, the Doctor gave Lucy some more background information. "A few months ago, a very powerful mad died, Hu Yaobang. His people were not allowed to mourn him publicly, as decreed by Mao Zedong. Protests have been going on for weeks, really. Some of them turned violent, burning vehicles, using them as roadblocks. At any rate, about 100,000 people are here now, none of them unified, all of them angry to some extent." Lucy nodded as she struggled to keep up with the Doctor's long, loping stride.

"Is anyone going to notice we aren't Chinese?" she said, looking round at everyone. The Doctor said nothing, just shook his head. Another thought occurred to Lucy, suddenly. "Can we save everyone? Can we tell them to get out now, tell them they'll all be killed if they don't leave? We could save hundreds of-"

"Absolutely not! There are some things in this world that are fixed in time and this is one of them. I've said it a thousand times to people like you, some things have to happen. Terrible things have to happen. The Holocaust, Mt. Vesuvius, wars, even this, Lucy. Even this has to happen."

Lucy could feel her face growing hot, could feel a prickling behind her eyes. "But why?" she almost screamed. Several people looked round, clearly alarmed. The Doctor had been speaking quietly. "Why? Why genocides and death all the time? People say these are examples, that history is one big example, so we don't let it happen again. But it still does. No one learns. Innocent people still get killed because people turn blind eyes while the corrupt rise to power. It isn't hate that's destroying this world, it's indifference!" Lucy stormed away from the Doctor who looked so ancient now. Lucy, ducking her head lest anyone see, let a single hot, angry tear fall from her eye, then composed herself and walked briskly back to the Doctor. "I'm sorry. I understand why things have to happen, but can't you at least understand why I'd want to try to stop them from happening anyway?" The Doctor sighed, looking relieved and saddened all at the same time.

"Oh, Lucy, I do. I really do." He walked over to her and put his left arm round her shoulders, steering her toward the edges of the crowd. They sat down on a nearly vacant square foot and it was then that Lucy realised she couldn't see. "We're going to miss what happens if we stay here, we won't see a thing."

"On the contrary, we'll see plenty." Retorted the Doctor, tightening his hold on Lucy's shoulders.

"Hang on. You said you've been here. You mean, here in Tiananmen? When all this happened?" The Doctor nodded again and sighed gustily. With his free arm he ran a hand through his spiky hair which stuck up at odd angles. "Yes, I've been here. 1989, 3 June. It's nearly half ten in the evening and things are about to get ugly." Just as he said this, Lucy heard the stirrings of thousands of people all around her. Shouts raged through the crowd, orders were being barked into walkie-talkies. It was then that Lucy realised that she could understand everything being said. By the time she'd turned to the Doctor and opened her mouth, he said, "The T.A.R.D.I.S. has an automatic translator. You'll understand every language both foreign and alien. They'll understand you too." Lucy nodded, mind reeling. She looked back up when the first shot was fired. Screaming could be heard several meters away from Lucy and the Doctor. The latter rose and touched Lucy's shoulder, looking at her expectantly. She rose as well and followed him into a partially concealed alleyway. From here, they could see everything going on, and not be a part of it. Objective outsiders. Horrified, disgusted outsiders. When the shooting got too close, they made a mad dash for the T.A.R.D.I.S., hand in hand, just barely getting through the doors as bullets whizzed past their ears. The Doctor kept his back to Lucy who didn't even bother to take a proper seat. She slumped slowly to the floor, knees drawn up to her chest, sobbing silently. Lucy put her hands on either side of the tops of her head and cried, wincing every time a shot came close to her. The Doctor looked round and his face fell when he saw the crushed looking Lucy. He walked over to her and bent down, his face level with hers. "I'm sorry." He said, almost sounding on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry." He drew her into his arms, and she leaned her head against his chest. At one point, Lucy fell asleep, long after the last shots had stopped.

Lucy awoke in a bed. It wasn't hers. This wasn't her room. She bolted up, ready to panic and then remembered where she was. She was in a space ship that was currently located on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Late last night and early into this morning; thousands of people had been killed at the hands of their own government. She threw the covers off herself and looked down at her clothes. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, black ballet flats and a long tailored yellow shirt with thin black pinstripes. The jeans were covered in gravel and dirt from her stay on the ground and the shirt had several stains on it that looked horribly like blood. Biting down on her tongue was the only thing that kept her from vomiting. She rose and left the room, sure it wasn't the Doctor's. This room looked designed for a permanent guest. She walked down a dim hallway and into the main room of the ship. The Doctor was at the controls and when she approached, slow and gingerly, like if she moved she would break, he looked up. "There we are. Are you ready to leave?" He sounded bright, like last night hadn't happened. Lucy widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows.

"What, what's today? What time is it?"

"The shooting stopped at about 5:40 the morning of 4 June. You fell asleep at about 8:00 that morning. It is now about noon on 5 June. You've been asleep for the whole time."

Lucy reeled and actually staggered on her feet. The Doctor was at her side in no time flat, holding her up. "No, no we can't leave yet. Something's about to happen that I can't miss. Can you take me to that alleyway where we were last night? Or, or the night before, whatever." The Doctor nodded and Lucy was positive that he knew what it was she wanted to see. They left the T.A.R.D.I.S. and walked down the completely empty Square. Lucy was already stifling sobs. In about seven hours, around 7,000 people, civilian and military, had died, the rest simply disappeared. Lucy looked at the empty Square, wondering where they were. Dead? In some torture chambre? Jail? Thousands of people didn't just disappear. Finally, they reached the alcove and ducked inside. And then they saw it. One man. One man in a white shirt and black trousers holding a bag of groceries. He was on their left, his profile to them, looking forward at a column of tanks coming straight for him. Lucy grabbed the Doctor's hand, witnessing history. Today was her birthday, marked by grief and death. The tanks moved aside, ready to go around the lone man. He moved back in the path of the tanks and they stopped. Climbing up the front, the man looked like he was storming a castle. A soldier stepped out of the tank to speak to him. Lucy and the Doctor could just barely hear. "Why are you here?" he said. "You have caused nothing but misery." Without waiting for an answer, he turned and went back to his position, directly in front of the tanks. Eventually, he was pulled aside, talked to by the police, but this conversation neither Lucy nor the Doctor could hear. The press had gathered everywhere and Lucy was crying freely now. No one ever learned for sure what happened to this man. Most believed he was taken away immediately and executed. The Doctor was taking charge now, leading Lucy away, out of sight from the tanks and out of reach of the media. Back in the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy put a hand to her phone, about to call Juliet and wish her a happy birthday. Then she remembered that it was six months away from their birthday, and that she had traveled back in time. "Happy Birthday, Lucy and Juliet." She said under her breath.

"What was that?" asked the Doctor?

"It's just, um, here anyway, it's mine and my sister's birthday. You know, not back in my time, but here, 5 June, 1989, Tiananmen Square. Never knew the dates coincided." The Doctor gave her hand a squeeze and said. "I'm really very sorry, Lucy. I'm sorry you had to see all that."

"You were right, you know. When you said that it would be one of the hardest things I'll ever go through. And I've been through a lot."

"Feeling up to sharing?"

"Not in the least. I don't know what I feel. Part of me wants to go home and pretend I never met you. The other part, the part I like better never wants to go home again."

"You're welcome to stay with me, Lucy. To travel with me. We can go everywhere. We'll do something nice next. Something fun. Maybe, Woodstock, you'd love Janis Joplin." Lucy laughed and for some reason knew that the Doctor was speaking with all sincerity. She looked down at the bloodstains on her clothes, her shaking hands and laughed even harder. "Yes, Doctor. I'd like that, I think." The Doctor winked and before the ship sailed off again, Lucy got one last look at the deserted Square and could have sworn she saw that lone man who stood on the tanks looking directly at her from across the Square.


	3. Past

Lucy laughed harder than she had in months, it felt like. The Doctor had linked arms with her and the two of them were nearly in tears from the peals of laughter issuing forth. The Doctor had made good on his promise to take Lucy somewhere fun. They were on a planet that Lucy could never pronounce right. This planet, what Lucy had seen of it anyway, was populated with colourful creatures, some vaguely humanoid, all eager to please. They bustled forth with fizzy drinks, acrobatic tricks and Comedia del Arte routines. For the past day, Lucy Blake and the Doctor had been treated to round the clock service. Lucy had been working class her whole life and at first, wasn't sure about being waited on hand and foot. After the first round of drinks though, and a roguish looking boy had lifted her off her seat and waltzed through the street with her, she was sold.

"Oh, Doctor, you were right." Lucy said, falling into a baby blue lawn chair covered in fuzz. "This was fun. And I'm glad you didn't take me home." The Doctor gave her that boyish grin that she was becoming so used to. He turned and looked into the sunset, all pink and orange with bizarre white tentacle like frequencies dancing above them. "Unfortunately, we've got to be going." He looked round wistfully, as if willing the twilight to last forever. "Tell you what." He said after a fraction on a second of reflection, "I'll take you home, real quick like, you can pack your things and travel with me for as long as you like."

"You mean that?"

"Yes, I do. Why is it you doubt everything I tell you?"

"Because you're inviting me in." And with that, Lucy Blake got off her lawn chair, black hair swinging behind her and walked into the slightly ajar door of the T.A.R.D.I.S. The Doctor was left to stare at her retreating back with a puzzled frown on his face. "Because you're letting me in." he thought. He felt a familiar urge to fix things, to heal, to make better. He was called The Doctor for a reason. He rose, handing his orange drink to the nearest person/creature. He ducked into his beloved ship, locking it behind him. Inside, Lucy was sitting on a bit of railing, looking for all the world like an eager schoolgirl. How could she just drop that bombshell and then prance off like a puppy? He gave her a weak smile, wondering what the cause was. He could feel her aura, like everyone's. It was different. It had Rose's compassion, Martha's strength and Donna's fire. However, there was something flawed. Broken, even. He went to the controls and set them for….wait. He didn't know where he was going. "Lucy, dear, I'm afraid you haven't told me where you live."

"Ten Eight Thirty eight, Carnaby Street. London." She beamed again and the Doctor puzzled over her demeanour. What was her story? Why was she so intriguing? He figured he'd have enough time to find out, he'd just offered to have her travel with him, and that meant live with him, sort of. He set his controls and they were off.

Upon arrival, Lucy practically tore out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and bounded onto the London street. Her clothes were still blood spattered, the ones she'd worn when he first met her a few days ago. He followed her to a tall flat with a red brick face and ancient ivy creeping up. Wrought iron gates lined a steep flight of only six steps to the dark green front door. Snow had covered every surface and the Doctor caught the date on a handy stack of newspapers. It was December 23rd, 2009. He was getting her out of London just before Christmas. While mysterious events often circulated around the holiday, particularly in London, he couldn't help but wonder if he was taking her away from dearly loved family. Before the door could shut he stepped inside, trench coat barely avoiding being caught in the door. Apparently, Lucy had a ground floor apartment. Two bedrooms. "Luce?" he said, hating the nick name as soon as it slipped. "Lucy? I'm not…taking you away from any friends and family just before Christmas, am I?" Lucy popped into view with a suitcase and several duffle bags on her arm. "No. My sister's traveling in India. She'll be in Mumbai for months. That's her room over there. And I just split up with my boyfriend, James, so it's just me, yeah."

"I'm sorry about you and James. Um, no, no parents then?" he asked, almost wishing he hadn't. If she hadn't mentioned them, something wasn't right. Sure enough, Lucy shook her head. "Nope. I don't know where my father is, don't care, actually. And mum died. A few months ago. Heart attack. I always told her she was too stressed." Lucy ducked out of sight into what the Doctor presumed was her bedroom. Yeesh. An absent father, a beloved twin sister away and a deceased mother. This girl couldn't be as calm and level as she let on. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm so sorry." He said leaning on the door frame. She looked up at him, surprised. Like she wasn't used to people feeling sorry for her. "Don't be. No, really, don't." she said when he opened his mouth to speak. "I'm happy for my sister, I've made my peace with mum, and I don't want to know where my father is. He hasn't been my father. Not for years." After she was done she had this look like she'd let on too much. She set about to packing, and then stopped abruptly. "I've just realised. Oh, God, I have _got _to take a shower and change." She tore across the hall with a bundle of clothes in hand, and before the Doctor could say a word, had closed the door and started the water. He took the liberty of walking round the room and gazing at her various possessions. On the dresser were two parts pictures of her and the girl who could only be her twin, Juliet and trophies and ribbons baring dance titles and wins. Some of them were dated twenty years ago. A picture that hadn't gotten the honor of a frame yet caught his eye. Lucy and Juliet were bent over a birthday cake with twenty two candles in it. Lucy was facing her sister but her right hand extended away from her and was holding the hand of a man that the Doctor assumed was James. He was good looking, tall, and from the picture, looked like he completely adored Lucy. He wondered why they'd called it quits. The Doctor lingered on Lucy's smile, a smile that was echoed in Juliet's. Both girls had something behind their eyes. Something sad. All too soon, the water cut off and Lucy entered the bedroom, still toweling her hair. It was dripping and piecy and even darker than when dry. She had indeed changed and was wearing loose fitting jeans, a green tank top with lace at the collar and a green jacket that only came down to the bottom of her rib cage. She grabbed a hair tie off her desk and braided the still wet hair. The Doctor sat on her bed while she finished packing. It didn't take long. "Hang on. I've got to pay rent. How am I gonna-"

"That's the beauty of time-travel. I can take you back to before you had debts. Man, I don't get money. I've always been very vague about money." Lucy smiled and stood in front of her bags. There were five in all. The Doctor grabbed three and Lucy walked behind him with the other two. The Doctor ducked into the T.A.R.D.I.S. just as a tall, good looking man stepped up to Lucy. Lucy groaned, the suitcase and dance bag in her hand feeling heavier than ever. "What do you want, James?" He looked up at her with his hateful, beautiful face. He had dark blond hair that fell in front of his eyes which were steely grey. His skin was tanned; he looked like the polar opposite of Lucy, all fair skinned, dark haired and stormy eyes. "My ring. I want it back." He said gruffly. The Doctor came out just in time to see Lucy yank off a ring from her finger and thrust it into the open palm of the man he'd just seen in a picture. He frowned and stepped up to Lucy's shoulder, which he touched, as though reminding her of his existence. Lucy looked at him, grateful and James followed her gaze, frowning. "Good God, Lucy, you do move quickly."

"Oh shut up, pig, he's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend. And a good sight more thoughtful than you. I've only known him three days and I like him better than you. Now get out of sight and stay out of my flat."

"_Your_ flat? I paid for it half the time!"

"Bullocks! At any rate, I'm leaving and I'd hoped for a better going away view than your arse, but I suppose I'll have to make do." The Doctor raised his eyebrows and Lucy threw him an apologetic look. James stormed away and Lucy thought it remarkable that he didn't even notice the T.A.R.D.I.S. right in front of him. She went through the doors and followed her memory to the place where she'd slept that first night. Sure enough, the Doctor had set her other bags on the bed, not wanting to unpack for her. She set the bags down and stiffened when she felt the Doctor standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean for you to see that or anything."

"Not at all, Lucy. I was wondering why the two of you broke up, but now I'm sure I've got some of the picture." Lucy laughed; it was a sound that held little humour and was in fact dripping with irony. "Yeah, that's James. It was great when we were first starting out, but then he started getting lazy, then he started getting mean and I knew that wasn't about to happen to me again,-"

"What do you mean, 'again'?"

Lucy sighed, looking more tired than the Doctor had ever seen. She looked as tired as he felt. "I suppose I owe you, since you're letting me stay with you and all."

"You don't owe me anything." He said, cutting her off. "You don't have to tell me anything but I'm sure you'd feel at least a little better. I can make it easy for you. You don't even have to speak but I'll understand like I was living it myself." Lucy shuddered and replied, "Well, I wouldn't want you to live it yourself, but since you offered." The Doctor waved his hand, motioning for her to come to him. She barely came up to his collar bone and he held his hands out on either side of her face and said, "I'm going to look into your mind. If there's anything you really don't want me to see, just picture a door and close it." Lucy nodded, but didn't say anything. The Doctor ever so gently laid his hands on her face and she winced, but not from his touch. She could feel him in her mind and she could swear she felt his mind.

What the Doctor saw did not please him. In a peaceful country side home, two six-year-old girls ran into the foyer in ballet shoes and tutus. They were giggling and screaming as they played. Their mother came into view, looking worried. She shot a glance over at the couch and said to her girls, "Lucy, Juliet, be quiet, you'll wake your father!" The two girls looked saddened and fell silent. The mother left into the kitchen and one of the girls whispered into the other's ear. The girl shrieked with laughter, which got the other one going. The figure that had been sleeping on the couch rose ferociously and snarled. A hulking man who had the look of a former boxer rounded on the two girls, who shrank into the wall. "What did your mother bloody tell you two! Shut the hell up, you worthless brats!" The girls began crying and the mother came rushing into view. "Evan, please, they're happy about their ballet recital. They both did so well!"

"I don't give two shits about their ballet recital; it's bad enough we waste all that money on it. What are you crying for, you grotty little wankers?" The girls cried harder than ever and when the mother moved toward Evan, he threw his hand back and slapped her in the face. "Emmeline, don't you start defending them. Those two brats have been nothing but a pain in my arse, and it's your fault!" Then, Evan began hitting Emmeline harder than ever. One girl ran forward and hit her father in the crook of his knee. He buckled and wheeled back around to face them. "WHICH ONE OF YOU TWO BITCHES DID THAT? YOU'LL PAY, YOU BLOODY WILL!" He grabbed the nearest twin and smacked her in the face, then, for good measure apparently, did the same to the other.

The Doctor could feel Lucy shaking and figured she was too scared to picture any closed doors. He took his hands away from her temples and caught her in his arms. "Dear God, Lucy, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." His voice was pinched and he held her so tight. Maybe if he held her tight enough, he could make what had just happened go away. But it wouldn't, he knew that. This poor girl had lived through that and probably much more. He had seen other closed doors. Lucy pushed herself away from the Doctor and wiped her eyes. "After that, mum wound up in the hospital and, and-"

"Ssh, ssh, you don't have to tell me, Lucy."

"No, I want to. I've never told anyone. Not even James. Juliet and I are the only ones who know now. Anyway, mum ended up in the hospital. It got worse after what you saw. Juliet and I got twelve stitches between us and mum had a broken jaw, two fractured ribs and a concussion. We got a protection order against Evan and eventually he was arrested. He was in jail for a couple years, but they let him out and we spent a lot of time moving from place to place." The Doctor pulled her into his arms again and told her again and again how sorry he was. Lucy, sounding like her old self again said, "I'm fine, Doctor, really I am. I promise." The Doctor nodded and then felt something very unwelcome. The T.A.R.D.I.S. gave an unexpected jolt, without his guidance and was now careening off to who knew where. The Doctor and Lucy looked at each other, eyebrows raised. When the ship came to a stop, they stood, unmoving, not knowing what waited outside those doors.


	4. Antigone

The Doctor and Lucy looked at each other, both with mouths slightly open, neither knowing what was going on. After half a second, the Doctor rose, his hand gently brushing Lucy's shoulder, bidding her to come with him. As they walked down the hallway, he kept his arm out in front of her, still protecting her. They stopped dead when the banging started. The Doctor frowned; this wasn't a let-me-in-so-I-can-eat-you type of banging. It was more like urgent knocking. The Doctor finally reached the door and opened it wide with his right hand, left already training the sonic screwdriver on whatever or whoever waited outside. And the last person he ever thought to be on the other side of that door was-

"Jack?" he spouted, lowering the screwdriver. "Captain, Jack, what the hell are you doing here?"

Jack's boyish face beamed up at him, the son of a bitch was grinning from ear to ear. "Hello, Doctor!" he said, "I need your help, again-"

"No! No, no, no, no, no. Every time you need my help, it's the end of the world; I do not have time for the end of the world."

Jack chuckled, once again taking everything as though it were a game. The Doctor rolled his eyes before stepping outside. Before he could get too far, however, he heard, "Whoa. And hello, beautiful!" The Doctor wheeled round to find Jack staring down at Lucy who had followed him outside, and still looked utterly confused. She sort of half smiled at Jack before the Doctor came back over and got between them saying, "Jack, I mean it. I do not have time for any of this. Now allow me to formally introduce you to Lucy Blake. Lucy, this is Jack. He's an idiot." Lucy smiled, uncertain. But she edged forward before anyone could say anything more, clearly drawn to the very sight that he had been. The Doctor edged forwards as well, half a step behind Lucy. He heard Jack behind him and when he came level with his shoulder, could see the puzzled and aggravated look on his handsome face. The Doctor looked down at Lucy next, who had never looked so small. Her mouth was agape and she did not appear to be breathing. She didn't blink. Didn't move a muscle, he was able to appreciate her level of control before turning his full attention to the present manner.

Lucy Blake was staring at the end of eternity. That was the only explanation. There really was no other way to describe what she was seeing. Above her was the biggest sun she had ever seen. This sun could fit eight of the suns she was so familiar with inside it. It looked as though the sun would dip into the horizon and set the whole place ablaze. And yet, she had the feeling that it was not sunset. There was no close feeling in the air, and though it was cool, Lucy had the feeling that this was due to the fact that the sun was dark, dark red. She recalled primary school days, thinking of the irony that in space, red was cool, and white and yellow were hot. Pink, orange and yellow clouds seemed to hug close to the foreboding orb, giving the sky a rusty colouring. She could see only one star above, the tiniest pinprick of light. Had something swallowed all the other stars? Were they really so far from any other bodies of light? Every few seconds a solar flare would burst into sight.

The sky was hardly the end of Lucy's worries. On the land before was….nothing. Emptier than the sky above her. She was standing on what seemed much like tightly packed dirt. It was rust coloured, like everything else. Far in the distance, away from the threateningly low sun, were mountains, or what looked like them, jagged peaks stabbing the sky. To her right was the only thing that looked remotely promising. A building. An honest to god building, complete with lights and metal that was utterly devoid of creativity in design. A rectangle, maybe ten stories high stuck in the middle of this god forsaken lump of rock.

Lucy had no idea who this jack person was, but he knew the Doctor, joked with him, and so, could not be that bad. Still, she had come to mistrust a handsome face. Then again, the Doctor….never mind. That was a useless train of thought, she chided herself. The Doctor was an alien, from where she did not know, but an alien nonetheless. She sucked in a ragged breath of air. Oh Jesus, she thought, even the air here is stale. She turned to the Doctor, sure she was not able to disguise her fear. He looked at her, and then appeared unable to give her an answer. He turned to Jack and said, "Oh, Jack? Would you mind telling us where we are?"

"Didn't you get my message? I sent it to you on the psychic paper. Come on, Doctor, tell me you got it."

The Doctor frowned and pulled out the psychic paper, sure he would find nothing. He flipped it open and to his surprise were the words _Doctor, planet Antigone, Casanova system. Help. Urgent. – Jack. _He recalled three years ago when the Face of Bo had sent him an urgent message that led to his second meeting with Cassandra. He had learned a year later, that the Face of Bo was undying Captain Jack himself.The Doctor jerked his head back toward Jack, who only raised his eyebrows in amusement. "So," he said, "Welcome to planet Antigone. Its sun is dying and the people here are stuck. I don't think there's anything you can do in the way of saving the planet, Doctor, but I'm stumped here, so I decided to ring you up." The Doctor looked round, finally settling on the building that stood alone.

"What happened to the rest of this place, Jack? The solar system? The, the life on this planet, everything?"

"Doctor, isn't that the least of our worries?" came Lucy's voice, sounding as though she had got herself under control. "That sun is _dying_ and it's emitting solar flares every few seconds. What happens when they come here? They could wipe out what little's left." The Doctor shook his head, amazed at Lucy's ability to keep her head.

"Those aren't solar flares, Lucy. They're distress signals. That sun is alive." Lucy stared at him, this clearing bringing her quite close to the edge. Jack too, frowned and looked darkly at the burgundy giant. The Doctor heard Lucy catch her breath as another distress signal made itself seen in the form of an undulating tendril, probing in the sky. Searching for something, anything to help it. He saw a tear make its way to the corner of her eye and felt a strange stab of jealousy. Lucy's ability to make her feelings known and still keep a level head was a rare one. She had the rare gift of empathy, mixed in with an amazing knack for surviving, clinging to anything that would keep her head above water. That ability would serve her well, he had no doubt. It was an unfortunate secret that when one traveled with the Doctor, one became half-condemned. Life threatening pursuits dominated the flavor of life with him, and he had been told that agonizing emptiness and pent-up-energy ruled life after him. He often felt selfish for traveling with companions. He got to ease a tiny fraction of his loneliness while he led people on and then banished them to Earth for fear of getting too attached. But that was the problem. He always got attached. Rose was happy now, after years. Martha had welcomed his attachment when he was most reticent of it, least willing to ever travel with anyone again. And Donna. Donna had been the most important person in the universe for a few hours, had come into his life twice, had been the reason that he was alive and she would never remember any of it. She couldn't. He felt his hearts breaking again for Donna Noble. He looked now at Lucy Blake and wondered what her fate would be. He turned his back on Jack and leaned into Lucy, head ducked, whispering so that only she could hear, and said, "Come on now, Lucy, time to go inside and see if we can help." She nodded sagely and blinked the tear back. The Doctor jerked his head back to Jack and he led the way to the lone building in search of answers.

Lucy chanced one look back at the sun, the living organism that was sending its dying cries out to the universe. She took in a sharp breath to steady herself and faced forward, committed to looking only ahead.

The inside of the building was as unfeeling as the outside. Riveted sheet metal covered the walls and nondescript concrete (or what looked like it) served as a floor. Along the ceiling, every few feet were hanging lamps, glowing dimly, as though on their last legs. Every now and then, they would all flicker at once, throwing the narrow and cold hallway into brief but imposing darkness. This darkness was loaded. Lucy realised she was nearly holding her breath as she followed the Doctor and Jack. The Doctor kept looking round, probably investigating everything he could while on the move. What little she could see of his roving face showed that he was expecting anything. Though Jack was leading the way, Lucy sensed that the Doctor was completely at ease, and if left on his own, would wander about and eventually find his destination anyway. Lucy could find her way anywhere once in a building. Outside, she was completely useless. But this building was quite a far shot from home. No signs or arrows or markers of any kind graced the hallway. It had the feeling of a gateway, a seldom used passage that was just sort of there. And sure enough, they eventually came to a door. This door was just as metal and stark as the rest of the building. It was marked with a triangle, the tip pointing to the right side of the door. Lucy could not think of the meaning until Jack placed his hand upon the surface and pushed, door swinging open into the room, not toward them. Perhaps that was how one dictated whether to push or to pull? She wouldn't know until she found more doors and was able to test her hypothesis.

Once inside, Lucy gasped. The sun had been strange, the sky strange, the building strange, Captain Jack her strange, her whole new life strange, but this, well this was beyond belief.

People of all sorts were lounging about in a room bigger than her entire seven floor apartment building laid on its side. In the far right corner were what looked like appliances, cooking instruments and a few shabby tables and chairs. Everything looked like it was made of metal. The floors, walls and ceiling were all nearly white, every fixture and bit of furniture silvery grey. To the left, about centre of the wide room was a door that jutted out, this one with a triangle whose tip pointed to the left of the door. She had the sneaking suspicion that that room held a bathroom, as she could see none out here. Filling the space in between the make-shift kitchen and bathroom were just people, some or all of whom alien. What looked like families layed on blankets, or were curled up in them. They must be cold all the time, Lucy was freezing in her tank top and short jacket. She unbraided her hair, still damp, but warm around her ears and neck. She ran a hand through it and the smell seemed to waft toward Jack. He turned to her, half a smile on his face and winked. She had no idea what to make of him and so set busy with continuing her survey of the people aliens surrounding her. Most of them didn't even look up at the new arrivals. Children were playing, people talking, some sitting by themselves, and even in groups looking sombre and sad. Lucy turned to the Doctor for answers, though he offered her none. Maybe he had none yet. Even not knowing him for that long, Lucy found she didn't like the feeling of the Doctor not knowing what was going on. He seemed so sure, so practiced, and for him to be out of his element was startling. Jack turned his back on the people before him, herding in the Doctor and Lucy. Putting an arm round each of them, he ducked his head a bit and talked quietly. "This is a sanctuary. These people come from all over the planet, and I think this is the last base. The ones with gills and webbed hands and the greenish-whiteish skin colouring, they're from the Aquarius Colony. They can live on land, but they prefer the water, which was made unstable by the cooling sun. I haven't talked to many, they don't trust humans. The Kerrians, however, are delightful. They are from the, you guessed it, Kerria Colony. They are the ones with colour-changing skin. They love to talk and I have heard that several kinds of disease have destroyed most of their population. Apparently, changing one's skin so often lends itself to infection. The rest are human, drifters. They started out on Earth, made their way through galaxies and ended up here. Most of them are lamenting that, they need to drift to be happy.

There is no government here per se, but they have all seemed to establish a sort of leader. His name is Quinto."

At that moment, Jack broke off and looked at the young man who had just clapped his hand on his shoulder. Lucy looked at him, though she knew there were humans here, it was strange to see them in this setting. This man looked Japanese, his skin tanned, very high prominent cheek bones. His eyes were framed with very long lashes and he was probably a little over six feet tall. He smiled at Lucy when he spied her and Lucy felt herself smiling back. She took this to be Quinto. Sure enough, he turned back to Jack and said, "No more talking about me, eh? I'm no leader." Lucy heard an American accent and looked round for anybody who might be glancing his way, any family, proud of him for taking responsibility of this ragtag group. She saw none. When she looked back, Quinto was looking at the Doctor.

"I sort of…inherited command from out former leader. Kath was much better at this. She would know what to do." He suddenly looked down, grief written in every feature. The Doctor frowned and said, "I'm so sorry. Really I am. Tell me though, Quinto, what happened to Kath?"

"She tried to fix the pod charger and fell down the shaft." When the Doctor, and Lucy and Jack for that matter looked confused, Quinto went on. "Through that door are stairs. On the next level is the escape pod charger. It's dead and we don't know how to fix it. Kath tried to fix it, but it's suspended in mid air, she lost her balance and fell. The shaft goes over twenty stories underground. Nobody knows what's down there. At any rate, that was weeks ago and no one's heard from Kath."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." came the Doctor's sincere reply. Quinto went on.

"We've been hearing noises though. Strange noises come from the shaft whenever someone goes down there.

"Does anybody ever try to go all the way down? Investigate, maybe?" asked Lucy.

Quinto shook his head, brow furrowing, frowning as though he didn't like his answer.

"No, the stairs are broken for one thing. Have been for a long time. Before we used this as a sanctuary base, as a matter of fact."

"And how long has that been?" asked Jack.

"About three months. That's when the solar flares started. That sun has been red for thousands of years, or so us drifters are told. We came here for adventure. To witness the last era of a mighty world. Not to be part of it."

"But the solar flares are harmless, they're not even flares, really." said the Doctor. When Quinto gave him a doubtful look, he elaborated. "The sun is alive, it's a living being, and yes, it is dying. Those flares are its, its, well, its last bit of communication. It just wants someone to know it's out here."

"It's reaching out." Lucy reiterated.

Quinto looked as though his legs might give way. His furrowed brow drew together and he bit his lower lip. The action reminded Lucy of herself. She didn't know why, but she reached out her hand and put it on his shoulder. He looked up and offered her a half smile. Two travelers, at the end of the road, with no way out. Well, she had the T.A.R.D.I.S., and she didn't think it would fit the hundreds of people in here, big as it was. And she also knew that with every breath in her body, she would fight to help these people out.

"This planet is self destructing." The Doctor was speaking as much to himself as he was to everybody else. "The Kerrians environment exposed them to diseases, the people from the Aquarius Colony, they're own environment turned against them too, well, with the help of the dying sun. A dying sun which is sending its dying laments out into the sky. We are witnessing the death rattle. And that mean, we are running out of time." Lucy looked over at Jack, the experienced traveler, to see if any of the Doctor's rambling had made sense to him. He looked just as lost. Quinto, of all people seemed to agree with him though. Well, he had lived here for three months, had lost his friend, Kath, and had probably done more than his fair share of drifting. Quinto seemed to finally realise that there really were newcomers in his sanctuary base. "Hang on. How did you two get here? Same as Jack?" The Doctor suddenly threw Jack a dark look.

"I don't know. How did you get here, Jack? I deprogrammed that bracelet thing you had. You weren't supposed to be hopping about anymore."

Jack looked incredibly sheepish. He actually shuffled his foot around on the floor and looked down at it as he answered. "I was doing some snooping around at Torchwood. I'm sort of a permanent fixture there, you know, and I found another one." The Doctor rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "Should have known." Quinto looked impatient and annoyed that his question still hadn't really been answered. The Doctor turned back to him and said, "No, we came by ship. I'm a drifter too, Quinto, and Lucy here. We're drifters of a different sort, but you get the point." He winked and Quinto seemed to take this as a sufficient answer. No sooner had Quinto opened his mouth to speak however, than rumbling sounds came from the door to the shaft. Sounds of breaking metal crashed through Lucy's ears and she had the worst feeling in the pit of her stomach. She turned to the Doctor, eyes wide. He was looking at the door, arm outstretched, holding the sonic screwdriver. Finally, the door crashed open.


	5. Escape

The door exploded into the room, landing almost dead centre, scattering many families against the for-now-safe walls. The Doctor in one lightning fast move shoved Lucy behind him, his thin frame still managing to mostly hide her thinner one. Before she could regain her footing however, Jack grabbed her too and pulled her behind him, though shorter than the Doctor, he was a sight more muscular. Quinto did not make some stupidly gallant attempt to hide Lucy. He just stood next to her, hands already wrapped around what looked like a gun. It probably shot lasers or something.

Through the door came the disjointed, yet rhythmic sound of many people walking. A hand came through first. The hand was slate grey in colour, the arm long and thin like the aliens in War of the Worlds. Lucy had no doubt though, that not even H.G. Wells could dream up something like these creatures. The first one through just stared at them with all the menace in the world. He towered over everything, maybe seven or eight feet tall. His head was shaped sort like a diamond; the top and chin pointed, the cheek bones sticking out beyond the norm for a human. The eyes were like slits, nearly disappearing into the cheekbones and were milky white. Were they blind? If they were anything like cave fish, they would be, and would find their way through other senses, like touch, sound and smell. The alien tilted its head and seemed to be glaring at the Doctor, its lips pulled back over razor sharp teeth that looked to be made of metal. The body of the beast was as wiry and slate grey as the head. Lucy couldn't tell if it was naked, or if this was itself, some kind of armour. The creature flexed its long fingers, which cracked and popped. Oh god, Lucy thought, he really is preparing for an attack. He lunged forward and the Doctor shouted, "Stop!" The creature halted, tilting its head to the left this time. It ducked its head, white eyes nearly invisible because the pointy top of his head was closes to them. "Why?" Its voice was a hiss, a powerful hiss that somehow sounded raspy. Lack of use, Lucy thought. It did not sound curious or like it was going to comply. It sounded like it was annoyed at the Doctor and was now going to relish tearing his head off even more.

"Because we don't want to hurt you and we don't want to fight." The Doctor said. "We came here by accident, but the planet doesn't have much time, it's self destructing and we need to get everyone out."

The creature laughed, sounding like metal scraping against a blackboard. Lucy felt herself shiver, chilled to her very core. "We know." Came the cold reply from the sinister nightmare in front of her. She wondered if it even knew she was there and risked a glance from behind Jack's shoulder. The creature immediately looked her way, directly into her eyes, as though it knew she was there all along and was now affirming its own assessment. Lucy blanched but did not look away. The creature shifted its eyes back to the Doctor. Maybe a second had passed. "We were the ones who ripped the charger cord from the escape pod charger. We were the ones who allowed the female to fall to her death. And we will devour the beings left behind after the sun breathes its last."

"But that makes no sense!" pleaded the Doctor. "You'll all be killed too, that sun is going to implode and it will take you with it."

The creature laughed again and said. "We have lived under ground for hundreds of years. Our people will stay under the earth and escape the sun's wrath." The Doctor looked doubtful, but didn't pursue the matter and instead went to a line of questioning that had been tugging at Lucy herself. "Well then, who's we? How many of you are there?"

The alien drew itself completely erect, Lucy had almost forgotten how tall it was. "My people have dwindled since the invasion of these half-breeds and drifters. We are now a dozen strong. One dozen will feast on one thousand." Lucy doubted there were that many people in this room, and then remembered that this building was several stories high and was bound to be holding many more refugees.

"And are you their leader? Their king?" asked the Doctor.

The creature shook its head, a feat that made one half of its face disappear completely behind the other when it turned one way and then the other. "We have no hierarchies. No governments like you half-breeds. I volunteered to be the first to inform the livestock of their doom."

"Ah, so you're just the messenger." interjected Jack. He stepped out from behind the Doctor and said, "I know it's bad etiquette to kill the messenger and all, but-" and he broke off, charging at the alien full speed. Lucy couldn't even open her mouth to scream at him, to warn him. The alien fixed its probing fingers around Jack's neck and flexed. Jack went limp and fell to the ground, motionless. Lucy couldn't help herself, she screamed. The Doctor just stood there, probably numb, she thought. Quinto moved to her and put his arms around her, his face tight. Lucy couldn't breathe, couldn't cry, and just stared at Jack's lifeless form. She had never seen anybody actually die before, and thought it only natural that her eyes were playing tricks on her; because there was no way that he could have just moved. No way had his whole arm just twitched. Hang on. He, he was getting up! Jack rose to his feet, a bit shaky and actually dusted himself off as he stepped away from the alien who had just killed him, the same alien that looked even more murderous than ever. Quinto's arms dropped from around Lucy and he looked as though he might lose his own footing. "Blimey, you're impossible!" Lucy screeched. Jack grinned and as he stepped up to her, arms out as though he would hug her, Lucy ran the rest of the way and hit him smartly on the chest over and over. "What the hell were you playing at, you idiot? He killed you, he did, and you're just grinning like an idiot!" Jack laughed and wrapped his arms around Lucy for the briefest moment and then spun round and faced the alien who had just killed him. The Doctor leaned down to Lucy and whispered, "It's sort of a long story, but basically, Captain Jackie Boy can't die." Lucy shook her head, sure she would never get used to information like this.

The alien, meanwhile, had beckoned to its friends. Out the door poured the other eleven tall, slate grey creatures. They all looked completely identical. Lucy couldn't tell who were men, women, adults, or children. They were just the same. And they all looked round the room hungrily at the hundreds of people surrounding them. Some even looked up at the ceiling, as though smelling those above. Lucy thought she might be sick. "Doctor, what do we do now? We have to get these people out!" The Doctor only nodded and said, "We need to find a way to incapacitate the, the, the, whatever they are. Then we need to get to the escape pod charger. That one said they pulled the cord, but there's always more than one way to get them going. My guess is, some sort of core. Quinto said Kath was trying to repair it; maybe she was just trying to activate the core. Then, we can get everyone out, alert the people on the other floors. But we'll still have to do something about the whatever-they-ares." Lucy nodded and tried to do some quick thinking.

"Oh! Doctor! What about diseases of some sort?"

The Doctor looked at her as though she were insane. "I mean, theses, these, things-"

"Whatever-they-ares."

"Right. Well, they're all the same, right? I mean they all look genetically the same. So species that don't adapt, don't change to their environment tend to die out all at once. If we can infect one, maybe they'll all-"

"Are you suggesting that we kill them? Commit genocide?" The Doctor sounded furious and Lucy hated the look he was giving her, hated the way he must think of her now.

"No, of course that's not what I'm suggesting. I would never suggest that." The Doctor's eyebrows lowered and he did look less angry. Lucy took a calming breath, hoping he would follow suit. Then she went on. "What I'm suggesting is that somehow we knock them out or something. Maybe if one goes down, they'll all be unconscious for a while. Enough time for us to boot up the pod chargers, get the people out and get of here ourselves." Their eyes met.

The Doctor looked at Lucy, not wanting to let her know that her idea made perfect sense. He felt guilty for jumping the gun so soon and actually thinking that she wished harm to anyone, even someone who wanted her dead. He should have known better. Her large blue eyes widened, begging him to act quickly, to forgive her. He nodded and she looked away, breathing a sigh of relief. Just on a whim, he trained the sonic screwdriver on the nearest whatever-it-was, the one that had spoken to them first. He aimed it right at its angled head. It looked enraged, and so did all the others. After only a few moments, it fell to the floor, and within seconds, so did the rest. Lucy beamed and sprinted for the door. The Doctor, Jack and Quinto were hot on her heels. "That shouldn't have been so easy."

"Don't question it now, though, we don't have much time!" Lucy called from over her shoulder. She was sprinting down the stairs, holding onto the railing. The Doctor watched as she shifted all her wait to her hands and vaulted herself past the last four steps onto the metal grating below. She was staring at the hovering pod charger when the rest caught up to her. It seemed to be dangling from several wires fixed to the ceiling. The Doctor looked down and saw that there were more frayed wires below. A metal beam extended from the railing in front of them to the cold, lifeless charger in the air. Lucy was eyeing it, looking for a clue that would tell her how to charge it back up. The Doctor found it before she did. "There, just in front of the beam, there's a door. That's a small door; someone very agile will have to climb through it. I'm guessing the means to firing this thing back up are inside, not outside." Lucy looked round at the three men in before her.

"Right then, I'll go." And she started climbing onto the railing. She already had hoisted herself over and had one arm on a support, one foot perched on the thin metal beam.  
"Oh no, you don't!" The Doctor said and he moved to help her back down. She only let go of the support and stood upright, without swaying on the railing. Okay, she was agile, but that didn't mean he was going to let her do this.

"But you said yourself, someone agile. Well, you and Quinto are too tall, and Jack's too big, and I've been in ballet for almost twenty years! I can do it, Doctor. Please." The Doctor's brow pulled down and he stared at her as though seeing her for the first time. As an entirely capable woman, capable and stubborn. He nodded and before she could turn around and start waltzing along, he said, "But you be careful. Once you're inside, you're going to have to find the way on your own. I won't be able to help you."

"Have a little faith, Doctor." She said softly, and without another word or backward glance. She stood straight and barely looked down as she walked, arms out, to the little door. She knelt in one fluid motion and pushed the door in, and disappeared inside the pod charger.

Lucy let herself breathe again. She had made it. And her door hypothesis seemed to check out. The arrow had been pointing to the right, and the door had swung in, as had the very first one, the entrance to the metal room, filled with metal monsters.

Before her wad a control panel. Hundreds of buttons all stared at her while hundreds of lives hung in the balance. And she had no idea what to do. The Doctor wasn't kidding when he said she'd be alone. The room barely fit her small frame and the walls were so thick, she doubted anyone would hear her, even if screamed at the top of her lungs. There was one button that looked remotely promising. It was yellow, she thought, she couldn't be sure in the dark and it was bigger than the rest. She really, really hoped that if she pushed this one, the whole complex wouldn't blow up. She closed her eye, turned her head away, as though afraid it would bite her and pushed. Nothing happened. Great, what now?

Before she could get out and admit failure however, lights came to life all around her. The pod charger whizzed to life, noise filling her ears. The lights were outside too. Green lights in strategic intervals all along the expansive walls. The escape pods? But she knew she had to get out. This thing was taking off, where she did not know, but she did not want to be in it when it did. She pulled the door towards her this time, fitting her fingers in the crease, breaking a couple nails along the way. She stumbled out, hardly her usual graceful self and headed back toward the Doctor, back toward safety. Just as she reached the last step, the pod charger disconnected from the metal beam and she lost her footing, falling directly into the Doctor's arms. She kept ending up there.

The Doctor caught Lucy, pulling her up into a fierce hug. "Oh you did brilliant, you did, Lucy Blake. Just brilliant." Lucy grinned up at him and they all tore back up the stairs into the metal room, fearing what they would find once they stepped inside.

Inside, the whatever-they-ares, as the Doctor had so eloquently named them, were still incapacitated on the floor. The fish people from the Aquarius Colony looked terrified, the Kerrians half amused, half curious and the human drifters a mixture of the three. The Doctor addressed them all. "Hello, everyone! I'm the Doctor! Okay, so, the sun is about to implode as you all know and we have the escape pods all booted up and ready to go. So, go on in, walk, do not run, I'm guessing about four people will fit in each pod. We are going to warn the others on the next floors. And do try to hurry, those lot could wake up any second." The Doctor was met with stunned silence. Some of all races made a run for it, towards the pods. Some of all races looked at him with mistrusting eyes. Quinto stepped forward and said, "Please, go now. There are hundreds more people up there and we're running out of time. Drifters, I know you sort of appointed me when Kath fell, so please, take this as a command, and go!" The rest of the drifters did as were told, moving as one, some gathering possessions, some rounding up groups of four, some making promises to meet at an unfamiliar destination. There were still some lingering Kerrians and people from the Aquarius Colony. The Doctor knew it was no use to waste time trying to convince them. Maybe the flood of panicked people from above would sway them. "Okay, we'll have to split up. There are nine stories left. Jack take two and three, Quinto, four and five, Lucy six and seven and I'll take eight, nine and ten." They all nodded, not questioning, only trusting. They all headed for the recess near the kitchen, Quinto leading the way. They sprinted to their respective floors and set to work. The Doctor sensed that they would all have luck in their own way. Jack was charming, Quinto, one of them, Lucy so refreshing and captivating, and he himself was brilliant. Once on the eighth floor, The Doctor found that people were already in motion. They had more windows and could see that the sun was indeed on its last legs. He only managed to scream, "Go, the escape pods are ready, groups of four, go!" They all complied, every last one, and was not about to comment about it being too easy. The sun was growing bigger before his eyes and in no time, would suck itself in and implode, possibly creating a black hole, taking Antigone with it. He ran to the ninth floor and recited the same mantra, people more ready than ever. He couldn't even get to the tenth floor; people were already flooding down the stairs, pushing their way to the next level. "Please, go quickly, but don't shove, you'll all be fine!" The Doctor then realised that he, himself had to get down to the main level. If he couldn't get to the T.A.R.D.I.S., then Jack and Lucy would be trapped. He would disable Jack's latest traveling mechanism as well.

He finally made it down to see Lucy, Jack and Quinto standing apart from the rest. When he made his way to them, he looked at Quinto and frowned. "Aren't you going in a pod too? There's plenty of room." Quinto nodded and said,

"I just wanted to say thanks. We called Jack here sort of by accident. I used to work for Torchwood. Calling you two was the best thing that could have happened." Quinto looked appreciatively to Lucy and the Doctor. Quinto shook The Doctor's and Jack's hand and gave Lucy a quick hug before heading off to join the staggering number of people headed toward salvation. When the last of the stragglers had gone through the door, Lucy pulled on the Doctor's sleeve. "Doctor! The, the whatever-they-ares, they're waking up!"

"Well now, that was good timing, wasn't it?"

The three travelers ran for the entrance and stopped to watch the pods soaring in the sky, away from the red sun, which no longer sent its tendrils as dying messages.

Lucy was sure that they were nearly all gone. She was also sure that the aliens would not follow them outside, she was sure their milky eyes would forbid it. The Doctor was the first inside the T.A.R.D.I.S., followed by Jack who pulled Lucy in by her sleeve.

Lucy rested her head against the door and sighed, wiping her forehead. "I feel bad though." She said. The Doctor and Jack looked up at her, the Doctor manning the controls, Jack leaning against some railing. "I mean, you said so, Doctor, that sun was alive and there's nothing we can do to help it. And even those, those things, they don't deserve to die."

"Well, who knows? Maybe they were right about the underground. Maybe they'll be safe. There's no law saying that that sun has to create a black hole and suck everything up, I've seen that firsthand, well that was hell though." Lucy was confused, but too exhausted to ask any more questions. She could fell the ship pulling away from Antigone, and could feel herself pulling away from consciousness. The Doctor seemed to have things under control and strode over to Lucy, picking her up, carrying her to her room. Her head rested against his chest, arms and feet dangling. "I can walk you know. I'm not some damsel in distress." The Doctor smiled and said, "I know. Oh boy, do I know. I'm so proud of you, Lucy Blake."

But she didn't hear. She had fallen fast asleep.


	6. Celebration

Lucy grinned as the Doctor finished aiming the sonic screwdriver on her phone. To think, she used to stress over losing bars when she went to visit her mum in Bath, and now she had trans-dimensional service!

Lucy had gotten a text message on her phone once they were in range of the Earth again. Her sister was back in London and it was already 31 December. The Doctor promised that they could all go visit. Lucy absentmindedly fiddled with the key to the T.A.R.D.I.S, hung from a chain round her neck. It felt like getting the key to your significant other's flat. She pursed her lips as she thought. She never would have guessed that she could be happy without Pointe shoes on her feet, or a needle in her hand. Blimey, was she ever wrong. Her few adventures with the Doctor, however harrowing, were worth the world. They were worth the whole bloody universe, for that matter.

Lucy looked down at her clothes and wondered briefly how she could have been so obsessed with them. Yes, she still loved designing, but she no longer cared if she looked the height of fashion. Her own personal style was always somewhat ahead of the curve, or maybe behind it. At the moment, she was dressed for the weather. She was wearing black jeans and a tight, light blue Argyle sweater, over which she put on her white pea coat. Her jeans were tucked into her favourite pair of black, supple leather boots. Her long hair was back in a braid, with a tan messenger boy cap to keep her head warm. She had been ready for quite some time, but the Doctor insisted on taking forever. Doing what, she hadn't the faintest idea.

He finally came into the room, however, pulling black gloves onto his long hands. Lucy recalled how steady his hands always seemed, then her attention was immediately caught by something she could not let slide.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, Doctor, wait right there, I'll be half a minute. Less!" she called as she flounced off to her room, no doubt leaving the Doctor to trade stunned looks with Captain Jack who was very interested in meeting Juliet.

Lucy returned, indeed, less than half a minute later with a pocket sewing kit in hand. She pulled out a needle and a tiny pair of scissors. The Doctor looked quite alarmed for a second and even tried to back away from Lucy when she came at him with the scissors.

"Oh, go on then, I'm not gonna hurt you. Honestly." She said, rolling her eyes. She bent down to the hem of the Doctor's blue pin-striped suit jacket. She squinted as she removed the loose thread that was threatening to unravel the whole piece. She removed the needle she had stuck in her teeth and stood upright, facing the Doctor's chest. She held the loose button, the top one, in place and quickly sewed it back into position, making sure it sat tight. She flicked a bit of lint off his shoulder, winked and headed back into her room to put away the sewing kit. When she returned, the Doctor gave her a half-amused, half-exasperated look. Jack was trying not to laugh.

"Well, alright then, I'm done. We can go now." Lucy said, pretending to be upset. She led the way out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. into the alleyway they hand landed in and onto the snow-covered street where her flat was.

The Doctor couldn't help but be amused by Lucy's scrutiny to his careworn jacket. He had almost forgotten that he'd found her at Thoreau Threads. She had, in fact, been painstakingly working on tiny embellishments when they first looked at each other. The Doctor walked, his hands in his pockets, eager to meet Lucy's twin, Juliet. The other half. Genetically the same, and yet, from what Lucy had told him, so different. Where Lucy was patient and calm, Juliet was restless and impulsive. And the Doctor had never heard Lucy speak with more love and kindness than when she spoke of her twin sister. He watched with growing affection as Lucy bounded up the stairs and barged through her front door.

He ducked inside as well and was met with the girls' happy reunion.

Juliet and Lucy were hugging, each half laughing, half crying. Lucy did more laughing than Juliet. He sensed that Juliet was more the feeling twin, despite Lucy's unquenchable compassion, and that Lucy was more the thinking twin. She thought about her emotions, analysed them, analysed everything.

Juliet was facing the Doctor, and as a result, he was the first thing she saw when she and her twin let go of each other. Her eyes widened a little bit and traveled past the Doctor to Jack who was grinning from ear to ear.

"L-Lucy? Who are they?" Lucy turned round, beaming.

"Oh, Juliet, these are some new friends, the Doctor and Jack." She said, pointing to each of them in turn. The Doctor nodded at Juliet and Jack raised a hand and waved ever so slightly.

"Doctor? Doctor who?" Juliet asked.

"Oh, just, just the Doctor." He replied. Lucy laughed at Juliet's puzzled look and then gasped.

"Oh my god, Juliet, I almost forgot. I made you a dress I was going to send you for Christmas. Let me get it for you." And Lucy ran off to her own bedroom, leaving Juliet in the company of Jack and the Doctor. The Doctor studied Juliet like he studied everyone. Although identical twins, he could make out several differences between the two. Juliet's eyes, while wise, did not hold the same depth as Lucy's. Her smile however, was more genuine, more youthful. Lucy had said that Juliet was more impulsive, a little less tried in life, despite shared experiences and her worldly travels, he thought. Was Lucy just more guarded, or was she genuinely wiser he wondered? Perhaps a bit of both.

He was interrupted by Lucy's coming back into the foyer, garment bag in hand. She was grinning from ear to ear, obviously thrilled at the opportunity to give her sister something she'd made by hand. Well, with the help of a sewing machine. Juliet bit her lip in anticipation. So the habit was shared. Lucy made a great show of unzipping the garment bag with a flourish and pulling out her creation.

Her creation was a cocktail dress. It was black and made of damask, the neckline, trimmed in satin. It was totally fitted, the hem, which came just above the knee ballooning out in a series of sequins appliquéd on the ends of ribbons, with a layer of dark blue tulle underneath it. It was the perfect little black dress, complete with the backless v line. Lucy then shifted the dress to her free hand and pulled out another piece with her left. It was a dark blue wrap, made of a material that the Doctor did not have the name for. He could have scanned it with the sonic screwdriver, but that might have looked awkward. Juliet already seemed wary enough of him.

"I was just going to send this to you, but turns out I was away for Christmas. So, I thought you might be able to wear it for the New Year's Eve party tonight." Lucy said. Juliet squealed and threw her arms round her sister, jumping up and down, then snatched the clothes from her hands, presumably to try them on. Sure enough, she dashed into her bedroom and shut the door.

"Sorry. What New Year's Eve party is that?" the Doctor asked, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

"Oh. That's the party me and Juliet throw every year. Is that, is that alright? I mean, do we have to be off, I dunno, saving another planet?" Lucy looked apprehensive. The Doctor laughed and said, "Course not! I love a good party! And you've gone and mended my suit for me. How perfect is that?" Lucy narrowed her eyes at him and said,

"Oh no, you don't. I am picking something out especially for you."

Jack stepped in, facing Lucy, leaning his hand against the wall so that he blocked her.

"And what about you, Miss Blake? Going to host a New Year's party in jeans and a sweater?"

The Doctor wasn't sure he liked Jack's tone. He was always somewhat exhausted of his blatant flirting with anything that walked on two legs. Lucy, however, seemed able to hold her ground. She shoved Jack playfully on the chest, making him move out of her way and said, "No, Captain. I made myself a dress as well. And no, it's not the same as Juliet's. That would just be tacky."

The Doctor looked at the clock on the wall. It was about half eight, and he assumed the party would be starting soon. Presently, Juliet came out of her bedroom, back in everyday clothes and declared, "It fits like a dream! But no one gets a peek until the party. Anyway, Lucy, I'm off to get refreshments. You think enough for twenty should do it?" Lucy waved a hand in answer, not really caring probably. Jack watched Juliet leave, and then turned back to Lucy. "So, where's this dress of yours?"

Lucy just shook her head and rolled her eyes, knowing an answer of any kind would only encourage him.

"Come on, Doctor." She said, "Let's get a party outfit." And she led the way out the door and into the packed street.

Inside the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy had torn apart the Doctor's wardrobe. She would pull something out of a drawer, pair it with something she found hanging on a rack and then toss them both on the floor. At long last, she had settled on his darkest pair of blue jeans, a button down pearly blue shirt with a black sport coat. He insisted on wearing Converse, black, and she said that was absolutely fine. Lucy then a got a text from Juliet, saying that guests would be arriving any minute, where the hell was she, and did she expect her to host the whole bloody shindig herself? Lucy only laughed and said to get going.

Once inside, Lucy told Juliet that she was showing Jack and the Doctor around the street. Juliet took a particular interest in Jack, who was wearing black trousers with a jacket that looked like it could be from World War I. It probably was, for all Lucy knew, the Doctor had told her that Jack couldn't die, and she'd seen it for herself. She had just enough time to slip in to her room and change.

The Doctor glanced up from the pictures all over the twins' flat and looked at Lucy. He couldn't believe she had made this dress. It was red. It too, fell to just above her knee, and had that backless v line. The neckline was plunging, with black lace filling some of the space. It fit like a glove, and only when she turned, did the Doctor see the triangular ribbing she had done, like upside down v's on the sides that went from the hem to her hips. Each v was wide enough to fit a super thin lining of black lace, barely visible. He couldn't help but feel his hearts skip a beat. Look at the grace she moved with! Her confidence, her poise, it lit up the room. His eyes flicked to Juliet, just as confidant, just as poised and graceful, and yet…..no spark like he felt when looking at Lucy. He couldn't afford to get more attached to her; he feared it was already too late. He just couldn't take it again. Couldn't she feel how lonely he was? She could sense everything, so couldn't she feel right now that he was about to shake himself to pieces? She had to be able to smell, to taste his ache, the centuries of loneliness. She could reach out and touch it. She had only to glance his way, to really look into his eyes to see how damaged he was. And then she did. From across the room, she caught his eye, and damn him if he wasn't a traitor to himself, he smiled. He grinned at her as she made her way to him.

"Well, does it live up to Juliet's or not?" she asked, giving a demure little spin. He laughed and said, "You made Juliet that thing, just so you could show her up, didn't you?" she grinned and he held out his hand, pulling her to him, leading her in a dance.

"Thanks, Doctor, but Juliet looks smashing."

"Blimey, Lucy, you shouldn't compliment yourself so much, it's unflattering."

Lucy laughed again and the Doctor reveled in the sound. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Just then, the song changed to a spicy, salsa mix of a modern hip hop song. The Doctor spun Lucy and led her further into the living room, more space, and the two led the way. Soon, couples all over the flat were dancing. Some attempted the salsa, some barely passed swaying in place, but Lucy and the Doctor lit the floor on fire. Lucy couldn't help but be surprised.

This man had saved planets, civilizations and now he was whirling her about her flat like he was the most average bloke in the world. Average salsa dancing bloke that is. When the song ended, they looked round and found that they were the last ones dancing. Lucy blushed a little, she did remember ranging all over, and had almost knocked _something _over when he flipped her round over his arm. Applause burst out, and Lucy looked down, embarrassed.

The Doctor wondered at Lucy's sudden shyness. She was a dancer. Surely she was used to people clapping and praising her like this. The Doctor nodded his head modestly and led Lucy off toward the front door. He could see snow outside. He loved real snow. Leading her by the hand, the Doctor pushed open the door and sat on her front stoop. She shivered as she sat down beside him, rubbing her hands along the length of her bare arms. He had forgotten again. Humans were so fragile. He took of his sport coat and put it round her shoulders. She put her arms through it and hugged it to her. "It suits you." He said. She just gave a small chuckle. He knew he didn't have to tell her he meant it. He didn't need to say anything. He just looked up at the black sky, with all the little white flakes floating down like so many feathers. He sighed, looking up at the barely visible stars. They just sat there for a moment. Lucy was the first to break the silence.

"So, Doctor. You never really told me. I mean, I know you're not, well, human, but. I mean to say, you never told me what you are really." The Doctor looked at her, puzzled.

"Surely I did." He said. She shook her head and widened her eyes.

"Really? I forgot? I can't have done. Well, suppose I did, then. Sorry about that. I'm um. I'm a Time Lord. That's my species. We are very ancient. I say we, Lucy, but there isn't a "we". I'm the last one. There was a war. A very terrible war a long time ago. But in order to preserve other things, I had to kill all the rest of the Time Lords and these, these, things called Daleks. I had to do it, Lucy, I didn't want to. And anyway, I paid the price for it, or nearly. I'm alone. I'm an endangered species. I destroyed my home planet, too, so I can't even go back to that. Gallifrey, it was called. It was beautiful, Lucy, I wish I could take you. But, um…that's about it. I'm, er, over nine hundred years old. I have two hearts." Lucy looked at him, quite soberly. Clearly, she believed him. She was clenching her jaw and when she spoke her voice was tight. She frowned a bit and finally put both her hands on either side of his head. She looked straight into his eyes, her stormy ones boring into his, and said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Doctor." He just sighed and gave a tiny, tiny smile. Lucy removed her hands, hugging herself again.

They were interrupted by the door opening. Juliet poked just her head out, short cocktail dress no match for the biting winter outside. "Jesus, Lucy, it's freezing out here! Anyway, it's nearly midnight, you two should come back inside." And with that she was gone. The Doctor got up first, offering his hand to Lucy. Once he pulled her up, he opened the door and held it for her.

Back inside, Lucy was met with her sister's face, her own face in many ways. "So I've got it!" she squealed.

"Got what then?" Lucy asked, not really in the mood for her sister's ramblings.

"My kiss, you twit, my midnight kiss. God, it's like you've been on another planet or something." And with that, Juliet walked off, ready to serve another tray of drinks.

"You hear that, Doctor? It's like I've been on another planet." They both laughed and then the Doctor was at her elbow.

"So who do you think is her victim?"

"Hey, be nice! That's my twin you're taking the mickey out of. At any rate, I bet it's Jack. Looks like he's been following her round all evening."

"It's 'cause you won't even humour him." Lucy batted the Doctor playfully on the chest.

"This is it!" came Juliet's trilling voice. Almost midnight! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five-"

Lucy was cut off from her chimed-in countdown by the Doctor whirling her around and kissing her. He was intense, yet soothingly calm. He set his fingers gently on her jaw line, tilting her face up to his. His fingers lingered on her face and her hand rested on his arm.

All too soon, the kiss was over. It was past midnight. This was just a friendly human custom. Nothing real.

"Happy New Year, Lucy Blake." The Doctor said in a somewhat hushed voice.

"Happy New Year, Doctor. New year, new life. I quite like the sound of that." Lucy tried to make sure her voice sounded casual, blasé even. She looked round, and found that her assumptions were correct. Juliet still had a hand on Jack's chest and he had an arm wrapped around her waist.

Lucy then watched in utter horror as Juliet fell to the floor, motionless. All around her people were dropping to the ground, of their own accord it seemed. In moments, everyone except for Lucy, the Doctor and Jack had dropped and gave no signs of life. Lucy and the Doctor looked at each other, both with eyes wide, once again, not knowing what to expect.


	7. New

Immediately, the Doctor dashed about. He bent to the first fallen figure nearest him and shined the sonic screwdriver on his face. Lucy looked down. Oh dear lord. This was Jean Marsh. This was the woman who had got Lucy her job, had pulled so many strings for her. This was the woman whom the Doctor had incapacitated in a similar manner on the first day they met. It seemed ages ago, and yet, it had only been days. Lucy concentrated on Jean's face. She looked for all the world like she was sleeping, and yes, there. There was her chest rising and falling; breathing. Lucy breathed her own sigh of relief. But she looked around at the other unconscious forms. All looked the same as Jean. Her friends, strewn unconscious on the floor, like they were catching up on a good nap. It seemed wherever the Doctor went, trouble soon followed. Lucy looked at the Doctor.

"Why us, Doctor? Why are you and me and Jack okay? Everyone else is knocked out, what could it be?" Jack came over, glancing anxiously at Juliet's slumped form.

"Are they alright, Doctor? They're not dead, I know, but are they gonna be okay? I mean, you, you can fix them, right?" Jack sounded so worried. He was nothing like the cocky,

showy Jack Lucy had met. She would call it an improvement if she weren't so worried.

"I don't know what's wrong with them. I really don't. They've all just…dropped. They're all breathing. And the only similarities I can think of between us is that we have all been traveling in time and space, but why would that spare us? I don't understand! God, that's an uncomfortable feeling, how do you people stand it?"

Lucy was too scared to be insulted. She wanted Juliet back.

"Doctor, please. Let's just think. You can solve anything if you think long enough. We know they didn't just drop pf their own accord. We know it happened shortly after midnight on a new year. Is there anything particularly special about the year 2010? Or about the year 2009 ending?"

The Doctor looked at Lucy, appraising her.

"Several things happen. Toward the end of this year, the American's war on Iraq ends, well, depending on other circumstances. Right now, nothing is set in stone. And I can't think of anything about the year 2009."

Lucy frowned, there had to be something. People didn't just do this. And why were the three of them okay? Suddenly, Lucy had a thought. She dashed out the door, grateful that the Doctor's coat was still snuggly wrapped around her. She had left the door open and was trailed by the Doctor and Jack. Lucy was already pressing her face up to the window of the building next door. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw.

"Doctor, it's not just my flat! Everyone is this room is on the floor too! I'll bet the whole city's like this, maybe with people like us, one or two people who didn't fall. Doctor! What if the whole world is like this?"

The Doctor had his eyebrows raised, and he was looking down a bit, his mouth hanging slightly open. His eyes now moved from side to side, like he was working things out in his head. Lucy fought the urge to shake him. Jack had seemed to give up and walked back inside. Lucy followed him. When he turned around he put his hands on either of her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Lucy." He said. "But we're going to fix this, we'll find a way, I promise."

"Don't. Don't promise. There are some things that can't be fixed."

"Well this isn't one of them." He looked straight into her eyes and they were so sure, that Lucy couldn't help but feel a little more hopeful. Just a little. The Doctor had finally wandered back inside. He was pacing about, scanning people with the sonic screwdriver, trying alternate methods to wake them up.

"They won't wake." said a disembodied voice, coming from the front door. The voice was female sounding, calm and very cold. She sounded like the machine at the market that informed people how to pay for their packages. The Doctor, Lucy and Captain Jack all stood up, awaiting the surely horrifying presence.

Into the hallway came what looked like a woman. She was tiny; probably no taller than five feet. She wore a long black robe with an even longer red cape. Her skin was an eerie greenish-blue colour and she was completely bald. Her large black eyes probed before settling on the three standing figures in turn. She was flanked by two incredibly tall cronies; each about nine feet in height; their heads almost grazing the ceiling. They had the same greenish-blue skin, bald heads and large black eyes. But where the tiny woman's were deep and thinking, theirs were blank and lifeless.

"They won't wake." She said again. "It is their time. But do not fret; they will feel no pain. It will be like they fell asleep and never woke up. Surely you could not think of a better death." Her attempt at a soothing voice only made her words more chilling. She sounded so cavalier, so, so cold.

"These lives aren't your to take! And by order of the Shadow Proclamation, I command you to tell me who you are and what right you have to interfere with the life on this planet.!" The Doctor sounded furious. Lucy didn't know what the Shadow Proclamation was, but it sounded important, and it sounded universal, so these…things must know what he was talking about.

"We are Lunabelsey. We are an ancient race that has lived for millennia on this planet's moon. Our ancestors created the tides to sway the moods and actions of humans. And now, we come to claim the human lives of this planet, to cleanse it. A new wave is ready to brake."

"Ah….Lunabelsey. You _are _old, aren't you? And so you're the queen now? Well, I'm sorry, but I rank a bit higher than Queen of the Lunabelsey. I'm the Doctor, and I telling you now, that I will not let you harm a single person on this Earth."

"Doctor? I'm afraid you won't be needed anymore. Well, perhaps for the scattered handful of people like you who will survive the cleansing."

"Hang on then." said Lucy. "Why are we still…conscious? Why aren't we on the ground like the rest of them?" She was making a very concentrated effort to not leap at the tiny Lunabelsey. She was sure she could take the Queen, but then, that would be exactly what her body guards were for.

"You, Doctor, are still standing because of your species. Timelord. Your regeneration gives you the ability to survive; I believe you are nearly one thousand years old now. And Captain Jack, we know your future. We know that you will live for millions of years. And Lucy Blake. You are quite an interesting creature. As a human, you possess a latent ability to survive. As an immortal being, we would assume that you too, would last thousands of years. Alas that you were not born into such a life. We are sure the Doctor would like to keep longer than he will. But it is this latent ability that allows you to go unscathed, and will keep you alive."

"And what about my sister? What about Juliet? Why can't she survive?" Lucy had many questions, but this one pushed itself to the forefront.

"Ah, Juliet lives in the here and now. She exists only from moment to moment, as fleeting as a firefly. She is resilient. But very unlike you, Lucy Blake."

"Well, I hate to spoil your cleansing, your majesty, but as I said, it doesn't matter what latent abilities people do and do not have, you're going to leave here in peace. This is your warning. Go back to your colonies on the moon and be content with mankind as they are now. You do not control them and you have no say over who lives and who dies! So. The decision is yours." The Doctor's gaze was firm, his eyes blazing.

The queen of the Lunabelsey turned her gaze to the Doctor. She had been staring at Lucy all the time. She reached out a hand to the woman at her feet, the one the Doctor understood to be Jean Marsh. Her claw-like hand was gripping thin air, not hurting Jean Marsh, but ready to take the life from her. In a move like lightning, the Doctor had shined the sonic screwdriver on her two cronies, one after the other. And just as he had thought, they dropped to the ground, their cloaks closing on nothing. Their bodies were gone and the queen was exposed. He trained the sonic screwdriver on her. She didn't have to know it wouldn't hurt her at all.

"See, your majesty? Your smoke and mirrors are gone. We know you're alone. It's going to be hard to oversee of cleansing of billions of people all on your own. Now think. I hold the key to your existence right here in my hands. It's your move, your majesty."

The tiny queen looked at the Doctor, eyes hard, mouth grim. And then, her cool slipped. She blinked and gazed just a little too long at the sonic screwdriver. And the Doctor knew he had won. She sneered at him, and without a word, turned and walked out the front door. All was silent for a moment and then-

"Doctor! How did you do that? You weren't really going to kill her were you? And how did you kill those, those cronies of hers? Doctor, what did she mean about my, my latent abilities? Why isn't anyone waking up? Doctor, they're all still on the floor!" The Doctor just turned round sharply and hugged Lucy so fiercely. His eyes closed and he could feel her relaxing against him. She sighed as her arms wrapped around his back and her head fell into the hollow of his neck.

"Are you alright?" he asked before going on. When she nodded, he said, "No, I wasn't going to kill her. The sonic screwdriver can't actually hurt living things. Her body guards were just illusions; that's part of how the Lunabelsey work. They aren't seers, they don't see the future, they just manipulate people into thinking what they want them to. So when the light of the screwdriver fell on them they ceased to be visible. The illusion couldn't stand up to contest. As for your latent abilities, she has to be right; you wouldn't have remained standing without them. As for everyone else, she had to have given them some sort of sedative to put them to sleep it should wear off any second now."

Lucy had more questions, or different aspects of the same ones, but people were starting to wake up. Lucy trampled over some people in her haste to get to Juliet. Her poor twin had fallen on the hard linoleum kitchen floor and was rubbing her head as Lucy helped her to stand.

"L-Lucy, what happened? How long have I been out? Hang on, did everyone fall?"

"Yes, dear, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" Everyone had woken up by now and many were asking questions about how they had come to be in their present situation. The Doctor held up his hands and everyone looked at him, falling silent.

"Sorry, everyone. Looks like a bit of an earthquake, hell of a way to bring in the New Year, eh?" And with that, he made his way over to Juliet and Lucy.

"Lucy, I think we should be on our way." Lucy looked up at the Doctor and nodded but gave no other answer.

"Jules, are you going back to Mumbai?" when her sister nodded, Lucy jerked her head toward the door and led her by the elbow to it. The Doctor followed them with his eyes and then Lucy looked back at him, imploring, telling him to follow.

Outside, the snow had stopped falling. A thin blanket now covered their whole street. Lucy looked up, breathing in deeply. The Doctor did the same. The air so fresh, so crisp and clean. Then, Lucy turned to her twin and said, "I've been traveling with him, with the Doctor. And, I'm going to keep traveling. And we're going to go places that are really far away. Farther than Mumbai. And we're not always going to be safe. Some of the places we go, the people there are in trouble and we help them. The Doctor helps them."

"Lucy, what are you saying? You're not makin' any sense."

Lucy sighed and shook her head, and suddenly the Doctor sensed how old she felt.

"The Doctor and I, and Jack as well, travel in space. And in time. I know it sounds ludicrous, but it's true."

Juliet looked from Lucy to the Doctor for a long time. Just then, Jack came out the door, looking ready to go. Juliet stared at him, eyes wide.

"You could come with us, Jules. Well, couldn't she, Doctor?" she asked, turning to him. He nodded, once again rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. But Juliet was shaking her head.

"No, Lucy. This, this is yours. You've always been too big for this world, I always told you that. Now I just have proof. Just, do me a favor and call me. A lot. I need to know you're alright, okay? Keep in touch, you know?" Juliet gave Lucy a quick fierce hug and then they were smiling.

"You're my favourite twin, Jules." Juliet just laughed as she headed inside the house to clean up and celebrate what was left of the first day of the new year.

"That was easy. Usually I get a fuss about bills and whatnot, she just wants you to call her."

"Me and Juliet understand each other. It's peaceful you know, it's easy." The Doctor nodded and the three of them headed back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. Lucy looked around it and thought it the greatest sight in the world.

"What did the queen of the Lunabelsey mean about you keeping me? And about-"

"Lucy, do not think for one second that it is as trivial as that." And the Doctor walked over to her, placing his hands again on her shoulders. "I like traveling with you, okay? Love it. You're brilliant, you are!" he sounded so cheerful now, and Lucy decided her questions could wait as Jack emerged from his room with a bottle of champagne and three glasses. She grinned and accepted hers, leaning against a bit of railing as they toasted the New Year, the past, the present and the future.


	8. Mirror

Krista McNair was late again. But who could blame her, she wondered? She was a shop girl, for crying out loud. Nobody would care if she showed up late, again. It was just Pete, the manager there and probably Evan, the stock boy. She smirked as she thought about Evan. They weren't really dating, they couldn't call it that. But months of flirting and innuendo was bound to lead somewhere soon. Krista fussed with her dark red hair, the glossy feature she prided herself on and decided that she could take her time. The shop was only a five minute walk, and she was only….fifteen minutes late. Oh well, she thought shrugging, staring into her old antique mirror as she put on a pink lip gloss. Then she saw something glinting that shouldn't be.

Not half a second later, the lip gloss clattered to the floor where Krista McNair had been.

Lucy Blake was waving goodbye to Captain Jack. He'd asked the Doctor to drop him back off at Torchwood. Apparently, he had a team that would be eagerly awaiting him. But the Doctor hadn't let him leave until he'd disabled his own time-travel device. "Every time you use these, it rips a whole in the universe, the damage is near irreversible. Be good, Captain Jack. Bye, now." Jack had only grinned and offered a salute back to him and a wink to Lucy. The Doctor held the door to the T.A.R.D.I.S. open for Lucy. She checked her phone. It was 15 January. They had passed the time since the New Year in relative bliss. They'd ridden the currents of the Aurora Borealis; Lucy had actually got tears in her eyes at the sight, she'd never seen it in her life. She marveled at the green, blue, yellow, purple and red waves, it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. They'd also gone to a planet called Phalpos, where there were endless stretches of beach and caves that seemed to have no bottom, which glittered with precious stones. They'd spent a full week there, she, the Doctor and Jack. They'd also gone to Greece and visited all the temples and ruins and taken a cruise around Santorini. Lucy had been worried that life with the Doctor would be all running and terror and danger, and there were plenty of moments like that as well. They'd only narrowly escaped from these monsters that spat fire from their mouths but which looked like giant slugs. Part of the bottom of the Doctor's trench coat had been singed off, but Lucy had mended it in no time.

Now the Doctor was setting the coordinates for another surprise location. It took off with that now familiar, wonderful sound, and then gave a sudden lurch. Lucy could feel them being pulled in a in different direction, the T.A.R.D.I.S. trying to go one way, fate or some other force pulling them the opposite way. Lucy was thrown to the ground, the hard metal ground, and then, just as suddenly as it had started, they stopped. The Doctor found his footing first and walked briskly over to help Lucy up. She dusted herself off and could already feel a bruise forming on her ribcage. The Doctor opened the door and peeked outside. Lucy was stuck behind him and couldn't leave until he'd edged his way out, squeezing himself through. Lucy did the same, in case it was necessary. And when she was out, and found herself on a grassy hillock, she resisted the urge to punch the Doctor for making her worry so. They both looked round, the Doctor curious and amused, Lucy, wary and suspicious. "We're in Wales." The Doctor said after a moment. "Near Cardiff, I'd say." He sniffed around, as if that would give him the answer. "Yes, this is Adamsdown." He said. Okay, so perhaps sniffing did give him the answer. Crazy Timelord, she though to herself.

"Well, we're here, and the T.A.R.D.I.S. obviously came here for a reason, so….what do you say we go check it out?" she raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. As though he would turn this opportunity down.

"That's what I love about you, Lucy Blake, always ready for something new!" And with that, they set off down the hill and towards the centre of Adamsdown.

Lucy spied the posters first. Three "missing" posters all tacked to a light post. "Oh dear." The Doctor said, "This can't be good. I've seen this sort of thing before." He thought back to three years ago when he and Rose landed in London in 2012, during the Olympics. A girl invaded by the Isolis had been stealing kids through her drawings. This couldn't be the same thing, but he'd wager it wasn't good. "Excuse me!" Lucy was calling to a man walking down the street. He looked before crossing and came, hand in his pockets, head slightly ducked to Lucy and the Doctor. It was cold and misty and dank, but Lucy couldn't think of the reason for his behavior. He looked suspicious. Or maybe scared was a better word. "Sorry, but these people all went missing round the same time. Isn't that a bit odd?"

The man nodded and said, "They're not the only ones. That Miles Jordan was first. Just in his home, getting ready for school. He never showed up. His parents were both gone, and the door was still locked when the police investigated. And no signs of forced entry. Same goes for the rest of them. Sally Davis was about to go on a date; her boyfriend waited two hours before he searched her place and then reported her missing. And there on the bottom, Krista McNair, she was late for work. Her boss was honking mad, but some Evan bloke put her poster up. That was just yesterday. Three people in a week. All of 'em in their homes, just mindin' their own business. It's not natural, it isn't." And with that, the man shuffled away down the street, toward a brightly lit square. The Doctor and Lucy stared at each other, each thinking the same thing.

"What do you reckon? Extraterrestrial?" Lucy asked staring at the three posters. The Doctor only nodded and then jerked his head forward, ready to do his own investigating.

They were walking down a deserted grey street. Row after row of blank, faded houses, all in various states of disarray. Nothing was remarkable about this street. But every couple of meters, "missing" posters crept up and stared them down. They turned a corner and from the second house on the right, they heard a scream. They both shared alarmed glances and ran toward the house. But before they could even get to the walkway, a woman burst out, wringing her hands and shrieking. "Please! Somebody help! Oh, you two, there, please tell me you can help!" The woman ran up to the Doctor and Lucy. The Doctor nodded and said,

"Yes, we're help, just tell me what's wrong. Has someone else gone missing?" The woman nodded feebly and tried to regain composure. Finally she said in a very small voice, "Yes, it's my husband. He'd gone into the bathroom for a shave. I was makin' supper and noticed he hadn't come out yet; it'd been almost half an hour and it never takes him that long. So, I go upstairs and notice the door's open and Horace isn't there. I look all over the house and he's not there, either! An' you can hear the doors op'ning all round the 'ouse, it's so old. Everything in there's old." The Doctor nodded, said,

"Would you mind if we went in and had a look round. We're detective inspectors." He said, pulling something that looked like a wallet out of his pocket. The woman looked at it and this seemed to convince her. Lucy recognized it as the psychic paper. She'd thought he could only receive messages on it. But it was blank! How could that woman have gotten anything from it? But the woman turned round and led the way into her home. Lucy kept close to the Doctor and said, "I don't understand, Doctor. That paper is blank. How could that have convinced her of anything?" The Doctor turned to her and grinned.

"Well that just proves it, it does. You're brilliant, I knew it!" At Lucy's blank look, he elaborated. "The psychic paper doesn't work for brilliant people. I can flash it at someone and they can draw their own conclusions about who I am, or I can make it say what I want. I showed her our credentials from the police. But really, there's nothing there. It'd take someone really brilliant to know that." And he quickened his pace and left Lucy to feel half complimented half bewildered.

The woman's house was indeed old. Lucy then realised she shouldn't keep referring to her as "the woman", that was impolite. "Sorry, mum, what did you say your name was?"

"Oh, it's Gwen, dear, Gwen Holland. And my husband, that's Horace." The Doctor and Lucy nodded, each with their hands in the pockets. Lucy looked over at the Doctor, at their similar poses. God, she was even starting to mimic him.

Lucy was grateful for the warmth of the house; she was wearing black jeans and a white pea coat with thin lining over a navy blue long sleeved tunic. She shrugged off the pea coat and held it up saying, "Can I put this up on your coat rack? It's so nice in here." Gwen Holland nodded and said, "I don't suppose wither of you would fancy some supper? If not I can manage some tea." She looked from the Doctor to Lucy, clearly intent on being hospitable. It only made Lucy want to help her more.

"Yeah, I'd fancy a cup o' tea. Doctor?" she looked over at him; he was inspecting the knick-knacks on the fireplace mantle. He looked up, slightly confused.

"Oh, sure, nothing like a cup o' tea on a day like this." Gwen smiled warmly and set off for the kitchen. Lucy looked round at all her kitschy, cozy furniture. She frowned a bit, head tilted to one side, eyes focused on the ground. Juliet had dubbed this her very own, "thinker" pose. The Doctor noticed too. "Are you deducting, Lucy my dear?"

Lucy nodded slowly, her thought still in progress, her idea half formed.

"Yes, I-I think so. That man said all three people who went missing were getting ready for something. Miles was going to school, Sally to a date, and Krista to work. And Gwen said that Horace had gone for a shave."

"So…"

"So they were all getting ready, but obviously none of them would be doing the exact same thing. So, we have four people getting ready that have to have one thing in common."

The Doctor tilted his head up, narrowing his eyes, clearly impressed with his companion.

"It's my experience," Lucy went on, "that most people get ready to go about their day in a bathroom." The Doctor raised his eyebrows and wordlessly, they both headed for the stairs and crept up as silently as they could. There were only a few doors on this floor. An open one revealed a bedroom. Lucy stepped inside; sure that Horace had disappeared in the master bath. The Doctor, however, put out his hand, holding onto her elbow.

"What if whatever took Horace is still in there?"

"Well, I'd thought of that, but Gwen said she went inside and nothing was there, namely not her husband. And that she'd searched the whole house and he wasn't there. And the people who reported Sally and Miles missing, they all searched round as well." The Doctor seemed to accept this line of reasoning, at any rate he let go of her. Lucy stepped into the loo first, followed by the Doctor.

"You don't suppose they all disappeared down the drain?" the Doctor asked, half joking and half serious. Lucy didn't respond and when the Doctor turned round she was looking at the mirror.

"They could all have a mirror in common, Doctor. Horace was shaving, Sally and Krista maybe putting on make-up, Miles getting ready for school."

"It couldn't be just any old mirror, though. Loads more people would have gone" the Doctor looked very doubtful as he said this. But Lucy wasn't finished.

"But that's just it. What if it's an _old mirror?_ Gwen said everything in the house was old, and look at the mirror. It's all cracked and fogged. I'll bet it's an antique! What if those other people all had old mirrors in their houses and that's what's pulling 'em in' or whatever it does?"

The Doctor was nodding, catching on. "I wonder what sort of thing lives in a mirror." Just then, they heard the tea kettle whistling. The Doctor went downstairs with the pretence of helping Gwen and saying that Lucy had gone to look round. It wasn't a lie. He just didn't think that he should tell Gwen that her husband had disappeared into a mirror because of the aliens living in it. He accepted his mug of tea from Gwen, noting her grey hair, her smile lines and wishing that he could bring her husband back to her. He set Lucy's mug down on a coffee table and presently heard a faint tinkling sound come from the…oh god…the upstairs bathroom!

The Doctor tore up the stairs, unheeding Gwen's cries of confusion and alarm and sprinted into the bedroom, hurtling into the bathroom. On the floor was an electric razor. Lucy had probably picked it up, examining it. But he couldn't ask Lucy. Because Lucy was gone.

Gwen came rushing up the stairs breathing heavy and looking flushed. She looked round the loo, unaware of anything strange, anything so horrifying, she couldn't imagine it. "What's happened? Did you find out where my husband is? And where's that girl, your partner?"

The Doctor wheeled round, looking quite harried and mad. He ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up in all different directions. "Gwen, your husband disappeared into this mirror. It's old, right, and antique?" she nodded, pressing her hands to her mouth.

"All the other people that have gone missing round Adamsdown, they've all been sucked into their mirrors while getting ready. Right into their _old _mirrors. And now they've got my friend. Which is very, very bad news for them. Because that means that nothing will stop me from getting her back." Gwen looked horrified, whether at the news of her husband's means of disappearance, or at the Doctor's menacing vibe.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and ran it along the edges of the mirror. Nothing happened, that Gwen Holland could see.

"What's that thing do? Can't we just…break the mirror and get the, back?"

"Absolutely not, break the mirror an they'll be lost forever. Maybe that's what it wants." The Doctor looked for a long time at the old mirror. He stared so long at it that Gwen wondered if he had quite forgot what he was doing. She even wondered if he had fallen asleep standing up. At long, long last, he spoke.

"I demand, on behalf of the Shadow Proclamation that the entity residing in this mirror reveal itself." Oh dear, Gwen thought. He was mad. He was mad, and he wasn't going to help her at all. But then, just there at the far left top corner of the mirror cam this glitter. Gwen looked away, down the hall that the top left corner showed. Nothing was there. She looked back and saw what appeared to be a young girl.

"It's funny you should mention shadows." The girl said in a small, sweet voice. "That's all these people see when they first meet me. A shadow, a glitter, something in the mirror that's not in the room behind them. And then they're in. You won't make me give them back will you? I'm so alone here in the mirror." The girl would be sweet and pitiable if she weren't so utterly terrifying.

"I'm sorry you're alone. But you can't keep these people. They're not yours. You have someone's husband, child, friend. You have to let them go."

"Never!" the girl screeched and her eyes glowed red, her blond hair blew about her. She lowered her head and narrowed her eyes, clenching her fists. And then she settled back into an innocent little girl. "I'm sorry, you can't have them. They _are _mine."

The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at her.

"I demand that you release all the people you've taken at once."

"Can we make a deal? A trade?"

"No. You will release every last person you've taken." The girl glared at him and then closed her eyes. After a moment, she spoke again.

"There. Miles Jordan, Sally Davis and Krista McNair are back in their homes. I've done my bit, now I think you owe me something."

"Not so fast, there are still two people you have. The people you took from this very mirror. You have this woman's husband and my friend. Give them back." The girl glared once more and then out of nowhere, the man who could only be Horace Holland appeared in the bathroom, beard only half shaved. Before he could run to embrace his wife however, the girl was speaking again. "I think a trade is only fair." And she trained her evil eyes on Gwen Holland. Before she could fade into the mirror though, the Doctor shoved her out of the door, into the corner of the bedroom, where the mirror couldn't reach. Horace followed, to look after his wife.

The Doctor now turned his eyes on the little girl. His face was grim, eyes hard as diamond's mouth one long straight severe line. He once again raised the sonic screwdriver. "Give her back." He said in a low, dark voice. He didn't need to clarify. The girl was grinning now. This couldn't be a good sign. "Fine." She said in an equally calm, smooth and dark voice, "Have her back. See if you can pick up the pieces." And she brought Lucy into view, Lucy reached out, trying to get out of them mirror. Simultaneously, something very good and very bad happened. The girl gave Lucy a shove, enabling her to leave her glassy prison. However, at the same time, her eyes turned red, her hair stood up on end and she exploded the mirror.

Lucy fell out, unconscious. Nearly every inch of her was cut up, her body and face glittering with shards of broken glass. Her clothes had all been cut with tiny slits as well and she was starting to bleed profusely. The Doctor knelt down and cradled her in his arms. "Lucy? Lucy, wake up, you have to wake up, please." He sounded so scared. Gwen and Horace came into view, both horrified. "Quick, Horace, start the car." Gwen said. Horace left and Gwen moved down to kneel beside the Doctor. "We'll take her to the hospital, love. You can come too, come on then."

"No. Thank you, but no. I have a faster way of getting there." And with that, he picked Lucy up, one arm under her knees, the other under her back, her head lolling in the air. Gwen rushed over to his other side and picked her head up, placing it against the Doctor's chest. She offered him a grim smile and let him leave, passing right by her husband, already waiting in the car.

The Doctor tired to run fast, but Lucy's extra weight, albeit not much, still hindered him. At long, long lat he reached the hillock and finally the T.A.R.D.I.S. He didn't have a whole lot of time so he just laid Lucy down on the cold floor and set the coordinates for a hospital in London. He pulled Lucy's cell phone out of the pocket of the pea coat Gwen had remembered to give him and dialed Juliet.

"Hey, twin, where are you?"

"Juliet, it's the Doctor. Listen, I don't have a whole lot of time. I'm taking Lucy to a hospital, she's, she's fallen through a window." He figured that was a plausible explanation for the cuts and glass. Who would believe that she'd been sucked into a mirror which then exploded when it expelled her? "Anyway, she's going to need blood. Come down to the hospital and meet me in the emergency room." He gave her the address and then hung up. Setting the phone down on the console, he took off his own jacket and covered Lucy up. No sense in getting her pretty coat all covered in blood. Lucy probably knew a great way of getting blood out anyway, he thought. Unless club soda really was the best thing. The T.A.R.D.I.S. landed and the Doctor carried Lucy straight into the emergency room. He was met by nurses and he said, "She fell through a first storey window, but she's unconscious and not breathing." The nurses took her away from him, laying her on a gurney. Just then, Juliet came rushing in shouting, "I'm her twin! Please, let me give her blood." The nurses nodded, they couldn't deny a perfect match and a willing volunteer. Juliet was allowed to go with Lucy, but the Doctor had to stay in the waiting room.

Lucy woke up in a hospital room. Beside her was her twin sister. On her other side, hooked up to her right arm, was a bag fill with AB- blood. "Jules, are you alright?"

"Me? You're the one who fell through a window and needed a blood transfusion! I brought you some clothes, I'm sure they'll release you now you're up. You'll just need to sign a few things and promise you won't b driving home."

Lucy laughed and then thought of the "window" she'd fallen out of.

"Can't help notice though, Lucy. Wherever that Doctor of yours is, trouble seems to follow. I don't think it was an earthquake what happened on New Year's Eve. You and the Doctor and that Jack bloke all seemed fine. And now you're in the hospital! I don't think you should be traveling with him anymore!"

"No, Juliet, it's not like that. Before this, we took a cruise, we went spelunking, and we saw the Northern Lights! Hell, we rode on them! It's not always like this. But, sometimes it is. And those times are worth it. I've learned so much, Jules. I've learned about the universe, about myself! Don't ask me to give that up, because I won't." Juliet only bit her lip and nodded slowly. And sure enough, another nurse came in, asking for her signature. Lucy gave it and changed into the clothes Juliet had brought her. She said goodbye to Juliet again and looked round the waiting room for the Doctor. There he was, his back to her, looking at the paintings on the walls. She took the opportunity and walked up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned round, eyebrows raised and then saw that it was her. He grinned and caught her in a fierce hug, picking her up and whirling her around. When he set her back down, he still didn't let go. She squeezed him tight as he said, "Welcome back, Lucy."

"Thanks, Doctor, it's good to be back." He led the way out of the hospital and they walked hand in hand to the T.A.R.D.I.S.


	9. Reunion

Lucy practically threw herself onto her bed once she and the Doctor were inside. She was tired, bone deep tired. And for what felt like the first time in a very long time, she slept a deep, dreamless sleep.

The Doctor looked in on Lucy. She was sleeping, fully clothed and on top of the sheets and covers. The Doctor strode in and pulled the quilt at the foot of the bed over Lucy, looking down at the only outward sign of all her struggles. A single, thin white scar that could only be seen well under a light, peeked out on her right cheekbone. She had no other scars from the mirror, from what he could see. He recalled, with sickening clarity the amount of blood pooled around her when she'd first fallen out. He remembered how there had been no rise and fall in her chest, no air at all. He'd lost so many people. He'd lost so many people due to his own actions and Lucy Blake would not be one of them. He just briefly touched the thin white scar on Lucy's cheekbone and left, brooding as usual.

Lucy awoke slowly, like she was trying to swim through soup. She finally managed to rise and saw that she had been covered by the quilt she never used and just stored at the foot of her bed. Had she, in her exhausted fogginess put it over herself? Or had the Doctor come in to check on her? Probably the latter, he had seemed somewhat shaken when they'd left the hospital. Curious that someone as traveled, experienced and other-worldly as him would take suck an interest in her. She though back to New Year's Eve, to when he'd kissed her at midnight. Had he been able to feel her shaking? Had he known that his approval, his respect was all she wanted? Not that she was throwing her life away for some man. Some alien, she corrected herself. As she sat up in bed, she put her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. God, she was daft. She traveled with him, that was all. She was no more than a glorified accomplice. Well, maybe a bit more than that. He was the best friend she'd had since her own twin sister that was for sure. She rubbed her eyes a bit and staggered to the shower in her bathroom, trying not to look into the mirror. Ten minutes later, she was out and trying to convince herself that nothing was in the mirror, she wouldn't disappear again and there was no awful little girl trying to kill her. She put on her make-up as quickly, yet efficiently as she could. When she was done she walked over to the large rich brown, dark wooden armoire that was nearly as tall as her. She opened it, selecting a sweater-dress that was a sleeveless turtleneck. Under that she put on black leggings and black ballet shoes. The bottoms were worn from actual use and she stretched her toes a bit, missing the feel of dancing on Pointe, though not the actual pain in her feet and toes for days afterward. She did a plie, then a double pirouette, landing briefly in fourth position. She swiftly raised her right leg, toe pointing high over her head then swung it back down, leaning her body forward, right leg behind her in a perfect arabesque. As she stood herself upright she heard, "Impressive." coming from her doorway. She looked up, blushing at the Doctor, leaning against the frame and raising his eyebrows. "Yeah well, I have my moments." She said stiffly. He smirked and jerked his head forward.

"Come on then, I was about to set sail, then realised we don't have a destination and I thought I'd let you pick. Not China." When Lucy didn't answer, he waved his hand in front of her face and she started.

"Sorry! Sorry, I was thinking about that mirror. It was a bit like _Through the Looking Glass, _you know? You see something in the mirror on your side that isn't quite right and then all of a sudden, you're in a completely different place that's actually mostly the same. I mean, when I was there, it was like I was looking at the same things, only backwards. Christ, there was even a little lost girl!" The Doctor said nothing, just frowned a bit and held out an arm for her to walk into. He wrapped the arm around her and rested his head on top of hers. "It's alright, Lucy, she's gone. That mirror's broken, and I'd wager all the ones she took people from are gone as well." Lucy only nodded, pulling away, saying, "Well. I was actually doing some thinking. I haven't been to the future yet. I've been to other planets, the past, but not the future. And then I though, what if there are multiple possible futures, like you know the butterfly effect? If I do something one way, it could change what will happen later on."

"But you can't pick the future you want to go to. I need coordinates."

"Fair enough. Any old future then, you pick."

"Better idea, we'll make it random! More fun that way." The Doctor grinned and Lucy just couldn't help grinning back. The Doctor then walked over to the controls, twisted a few knobs, pushed a few buttons, and they were off.

Lucy was the first to bound outside, but when she looked round, her main feeling was….confusion. The Doctor followed her out and shared her expression, though his might have been a show.

"But…Doctor, this looks exactly the same. We're not in that alley near my flat, but still. This is London, it's just London, no different. How far into the future did we go? I was hoping for a few years, at least, but this looks like it could be next Tuesday."

The Doctor ignored her and was walking to a park bench. On it was another handy stack of newspapers. "It's Sunday, 15 March, 2099."

"So we've gone almost a hundred years into my future, and it looks exactly the same?"

"Well, be fair, we haven't done any exploring yet, there could be loads different."

Lucy frowned, biting her lower lip. He was right, of course. For all she knew, this was the only thing like her London. And sure enough, as she was looking at the street, a hover car came zooming by at 40 kilometers an hour. "Did you see that, Doctor? A hover car, a proper hover car! Oh, this is brilliant!" Lucy was practically jumping up and down and the Doctor was standing, hands in his pockets, grinning at her. As the wind blew her long, black hair, she grinned and turned to him, still giddy.

"Doctor, this is perfect, and before we leave you have to let me drive one of those things." She said, quite matter-of-factly. He only nodded, as if to say, "We'll see what we can do." They walked along the street, and Lucy started to wonder where all the people were. Sure, it was Sunday, and most people would be off work, kids not in school. But there was no one walking about. Maybe it was banned. Maybe they'd get in trouble for just strolling along. The Doctor seemed to share Lucy's sentiments and guided her by the elbow into a very large corporate building. They looked round, and everything was immaculate. Cleaner than a hospital, practically. The couches were all c-shaped and pale blue, looking like they'd never been sat on. The high walls were all painted slate grey and completely devoid of any decoration. Behind a silvery grey desk sat a very polished woman. She looked to be in her late-twenties and had a short, severe blond haircut, and grey eyes behind small round spectacles. She looked up as they entered and said in a snappish tone, "What is your business here? Do you have an appointment? This premises is not for tourism." She glared at the two of them, as though daring them to come nearer. The Doctor and Lucy did just that, the Doctor pulling out the psychic paper and flashing it at her, smiling all the while. She looked embarrassed and then said, looking down, sounding flustered. "Oh, forgive me, ambassador. I didn't realize Mr. Finch was expecting you. Please, through that door, and all the way down the hallway. It's the last door on the right." The Doctor smiled by way of thanks, and Lucy offered the woman a little wave. "So what does that say we are, then? Ambassador for where?"

"Australia, apparently. Oh, and you're my wife."

"Your _what_?" Lucy almost shouted, following after him. He didn't answer her, but she could have sworn he was chuckling to himself. They finally reached the last door on the right.

The Doctor had wondered why the name "Finch" had sounded so familiar since the receptionist said it. Did he know a Mr. Finch? As he pushed the door open, and saw the man standing at the head of the otherwise empty table, he recongised him immediately.

The Doctor just stood there, looking at Mr. Finch, the leader of the Krillitanes.

Mr. Finch finally looked up. When he spied the Doctor, a smile crossed his face, and when Lucy stepped out from behind his shoulder, he all but grinned.

"Doctor, it's been too long. And you have a new friend. What happened to the blond girl, Rose I think her name was?" The Doctor didn't answer. Lucy chanced a glance at his face, and saw that is was grim. Suspicious, even angry.

"What are you up to now, Mr. Finch? Still killing children to harvest the best parts of them? Oh, this one's thin, this one's clever. What form do you take now?"

"Generally human, as I said to you before, it is a favourite. We visisted Jupiter's ice moon Europa and found there a civilization of people who had these wonderful gills. You should have seen their cities, Doctor. All brightly lit, and luminescent in the water. We found their gills quite useful and adapted. We also adapted the thick, leathery hide of the Gallgosa people."

"You still haven't told me what you're doing here. If you have any plans to-"

"I must confess, Doctor, I have been waiting for you. I know Earth is your favourite planet and thought I'd run in to you at some point. I did tell you that we would meet again. And that you would be one of us." Mr. Finch's cold eyes locked onto the Doctor's. Lucy could tell there was no lost love between this seemingly old man and the Doctor. She was burning with questions, but thought it best to stay silent. One learned just as well that way.

"Oh, get over it, Finch, I'm never joining you, and you know it. Now go on, you have no business, here."

"On the contrary, I may have found just what I've been looking for." And now, Mr. Finch turned his cold, hungry eyes directly on Lucy. The Doctor made to move in front of her, but Lucy knew that this was her time. She stepped in front of him and stood feet apart, fists clenched and jaw straight. Her own stormy eyes were cold and mistrusting.

"Tell me who you are." She said.

The old man smiled at her and said, "I am the leader of the Krillitanes. We are a people of adaptation, evolution, much like the Doctor here. We find bits of different species and take what we want of them. In this way, we survive for so long. But I am getting old, my dear. I am much older than this body would suggest and you have come in here with exactly what I need."

"And what would that be?"

"Your ability to survive, my pet. That uncanny knack you have, that is what I crave."

Lucy felt the blood leave her face. What did these people keep going on about her survival for? She was nothing special. Now the Doctor did pull her back, keeping his right hand crossed over her, clutching her right elbow.

"It doesn't matter what you crave because you're not getting it. If you're getting old, take it as a hint, it's time to die."

"Hypocrite! How many faces have you had now? Ten? Ten regenerations, and you look so young. How old are now? Surely it's time for you to die?" And with that, Mr. Finch, the leader of the Krillitanes morphed. He turned into a strange being with black leathery skin, green glowing eyes, pointed fangs and gills. He charged at the Doctor, who threw Lucy into the hall in front of him and they ran. Lucy swore she had lost a pound or two with all the running they'd done. She had no idea where they were headed, but if she did have a latent sense, it was finding her way through a building. She remembered the walk down here and sure enough, there was the staircase coming up on her left. She tore up and looked behind her to see the Doctor hot on her heels. She could hear the scuttling, sinuous pad of Mr. Finch's leathery feet. Lucy quickened her pace, using the hand rails to boost her up two and three steps at a time. On the sixth floor, the Doctor burst in front of her and pulled her into an annex that seemed abandoned. The entire room was dark and dusty and probably hadn't been used in years. They hid behind several filing cabinets. Lucy wondered what for? Mr. Finch could probably smell them and had been quick to follow them; every turn they had made on the staircase, he had been just behind. And sure enough, he came padding into the room, sniffing around. His green eyes, so like a cat's and yet so reptilian, glittered in the dark. "The time for games is past, Doctor. I will find you. I will have your brilliance and the girl's life." Mr. Finch had already walked past the two of them, perhaps, despite his words, trying to trap them in a game of cat and mouse. The Doctor bolted out from behind the filing cabinets, tearing into the hallway and dashing up the stairs. Before tearing out herself, Lucy pushed the filing cabinets in front of her, hoping to stall Mr. Finch. It was foolish, but it might actually work, and anyway, it didn't matter now, she was right behind the Doctor on the stairs. On the eighth floor, the Doctor stopped again and motioned to the window through which the fire escape was visible. Lucy led the way onto it, then let the Doctor go in front of her. When she halted and made no move to climb up, he turned round, eyes wide and pleading. Then he saw her plan. Mr. Finch was closing in on them only slightly hampered by Lucy's pushing the file cabinets in front of him. So when he came to the window, grinning, if that's what it could be called, she kicked the heavy wooden jam and it fell on his black, leathery arms. He hissed and squealed in pain and only then did Lucy turn tail and start to run up the fire escape with the Doctor.

Not ten seconds later, Mr. Finch had already freed himself from the window's grip. Lucy heard his labored breathing, the stench coming off his strange body and quickened her pace, practically shoving the Doctor in front of her.

Finally, they were on the roof. On the positive side, they could stop running, on the negative, they were sort of trapped. And there came Mr. Finch all leathery hide, glowing eyes and incongruous gills. Lucy was breathing heavy now, and scared. She wasn't so sure about her ability to survive; it certainly seemed to have run out at any rate. The Doctor, also breathing hard, pulled her behind him, only a few meters from the edge, all the while staring down Mr. Finch.

At once, Mr. Finch turned back into his human form, his "favourite" form. The suit he wore looked expensive and not a single stitch was out of place. He dusted himself off however and cracked his neck. He trained his cold eyes on Lucy, who couldn't resist peeking out from behind the Doctor's back.

"Give her up, old friend. You've nowhere to go now. I don't see the T.A.R.D.I.S. anywhere. I know you, Doctor. You won't kill me, it's against your nature, your rules. Although…maybe not. You have changed so, despite your never aging appearance."

"I've changed for the better, Mr. Finch. I was so angry when last we met. I was angry and vindictive and lost. But Rose changed that. She made me calm again, and I'm calmer than I ever was. And you won't lay a hand on Lucy."

Mr. Finch only smiled and morphed in the blink of an eye, back to his gilled, leathery form. He charged at the Doctor, who made to shove Lucy out of the way. But Lucy was holding on tight and wouldn't let him. With all the strength she could muster, she shoved _him _aside and braced herself. As Mr. Finch saw that Lucy was alone, he started to morph back into human form. But before he could, Lucy punched hard into his left gills, keeping her fist between the slats. He choked, turning alternately human and true Krillitane. Finally, she let go and Mr. Finch tumbled, human formed to the ground. She looked away before he could hit and heard the sickening crunch from forty stories up.

The Doctor was walking over to her and he held her, seeing her shocked face.

"Breathe, Lucy. You're alright; I told you he wouldn't lay a hand on you." But Lucy was pushing away and said to his confused face, "I killed him, Doctor. I didn't mean to but I killed him. I-"

"Ssh, hush now. I know." And he said no more, just gently nudged her in front of him and let her lead the way back to the fire escape, down every flight of stairs, down the long hallway past the empty conference room and past the severe receptionist and onto the now busy street below. People were gathering all around Mr. Finch's body. The Doctor tugged Lucy into a corner so they wouldn't be seen. The police had already arrived, and clearly the Doctor didn't want to be questioned, or seen leaving the building. People were already haranguing the police, asking them what had happened, like they knew everything. Lucy heard snatches of conversation, the sirens were starting to drown everything out.

"Musta jumped, poor bloke."

"Dad, is he dead? Is he really dead?"

"What would make a person do such a thing? Honestly, the way things are headed…"

"That's Mr. Finch, that is. He handled me accounts, cost me a fortune."

And then the severe receptionist came running out. She was shocked, they both could see, clutching one hand to her breast, the other to her mouth. The police immediately walked over to her, suspicion on their faces; why was she looking round the whole place, searching? They said something to her and she said in a frantic voice, "Well he was meeting with the ambassador for Australia and his wife." The two coppers cast doubtful looks at each other and turned back to her; she wasn't finished.

"He was! He was a tall man, skinny with this dark hair, and his wife, this thin pretty thing, they was just here, they was!" And the Doctor and Lucy took that as their cue to leave. They hurried across the street to where the T.A.R.D.I.S., the most welcome sight in the world, sat waiting for them. As they got in and closed the door, Lucy could have sworn she heard the receptionist say, "Well that's them there, in that big blue box!" But by the time the coppers had turned round, they were gone.

Lucy heaved a sigh of relief. She was exhausted again, but she was safe. She had managed to convince herself that is wasn't really her fault Mr. Finch had died. She was defending herself and he certainly would have killed her, or stolen her essence, had she not. But something was still puzzling her.

"D'you reckon he was alone, Doctor? He said he was the leader of the Krillitanes. So where were the rest of them?"

The Doctor nodded and said, "I'd thought of that as well. It is rare for Krillitanes to be out on their own, but Finch said he was waiting for me. Maybe he got power hungry, didn't want the rest of the clan in on getting their hands on me. At any rate, we beat him and he won't hurt anyone again." Lucy nodded, biting her lip.

The Doctor could tell that something was bothering her, but also that she didn't want to talk about it.

"So where to next, Lucy Blake? You got your trip to the future, and I'll wager it was a bit more hectic than you bargained for, and I'm really sorry you didn't get to drive one of those hover cars."

Lucy just laughed, she seemed to have forgotten all about them. Still smiling, she looked up at the ceiling, as though that would give her the answer and said, "I fancy another trip to the past, I think. Farther though, this time. Let's go to Ireland! Oh, I don't know, round 1800's? Sound good?" The Doctor just smiled and pulled a lever, twisted a knob and they were off. Lucy could feel that now familiar jolt that took her off her feet, but that also filled her with such joy.

"We're off." The Doctor said, grinning at her, chocolate brown eyes glittering in such a warm, wonderful way.

They certainly were.


	10. Ireland

Lucy was once again bouncing up and down, giddy with excitement. She and the Doctor had just landed in Ireland. They hadn't left yet, but even knowing that a (technically) foreign land was outside the door was intoxicating. The Doctor came from the doorway that led down the hall to their respective rooms and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at her. A thought occurred to Lucy and she ceased jumping and squealing like a little girl. She looked down, presumably at the ground and the Doctor noticed her silence.

"Don't tell me you've changed your mind."

"No, it's not that, but….I mean, will anybody notice what I'm wearing? It's not exactly 19th century Ireland." The Doctor looked at Lucy's ensemble. She was lovely, of course, in a pair of dark grey skinny jeans, and a light blue baby doll tank top dress over a bright yellow T-shirt, finished off with black Converse. She had French braided only part of the right side of her hair, letting both the plait and the rest of her hair flow freely. She raised her eyebrows at him and he realised he had been caught staring.

"Um, no, er, you'll be fine. Just act like you belong and you will." He nodded at her and she smiled widely.

"Trans-dimensional translation _and _clothing? That's just smashing." The Doctor returned her smile and held out his hand for her to take. She did and they walked out into their Irish setting.

Lucy found herself in an immense field. On the horizon were scores of identical fields, rolling hills and even a picturesque river winding its way through her vision. Behind her was a tall black forest, complete with swooping birds and lush green colours.

The sky ahead was slightly grey, and the clouds looked dark and heavy, but that didn't matter. She breathed in deeply, feeling the cool, rich air travel into her lungs which were surely filled with London smog.

The Doctor leaned down and said, "See anything you like?"

"Everything. Absolutely everything."

"So… where do we go from here?"

Lucy scanned her options and found that to her left, very close was a small village. She pointed and the Doctor once again took her hand and they walked side by side toward their destination.

Lorna Finn drummed her fingers on the table. Everyone else was silent. They could all feel that…presence. She looked directly across the table at her careworn mother. Her black hair had started to fall out of its knot and her cheeks were flushed. Her threadbare gown was fraying, leaving strings all over the cottage. And that little crease line between her brows was starting to stick. Next to her mother, Edie was her father, Francis. The dark grey smudges under his eyes were also staring to look permanent. Presently, he lifted a hand and massaged his own brow, looking down, frowning all the while. To her left, Lorna's older brother Frank was holding the baby, little Margaret. While Margaret was not yet old enough to understand what was happening, Frank and Lorna traded glances, thinking each looked as worried as they themselves felt. No one looked over at Grandfather Finn. While Lorna was sure her grandfather's face would be impassive, she wasn't sure she could bear it. Nor was she sure anyone else could either. The banshee's wail had surely meant his immanent death.

It had happened later that night, although surely now it was very early morning. Lorna thought she could see a slight yellow hue at the shade drawn over the window. Each member of the family had been simultaneously awoken by a hideous wail. They'd all gathered in a panic and Grandfather Finn had said that he'd actually seen the pale young woman. Upon hearing this, Mother had dropped the tea kettle and wrung her shaking hands. Grandfather Finn had gone on to say that her hair was fair and long and that she was beautiful and looked as though she were about Lorna's age, sixteen. Lorna's best friend Mary Catharine had said that a banshee only actually appeared to the person who was actually going to die. But she'd also heard from Brigid MacPhearson's older brother that anybody could see her.

Just then, a great clap of thunder shook the house and a bolt of lightning lit the whole room. Lorna started and looked round, hearing the rain pouring on the roof. A sharp series of three knocks was heard at the door and every eye turned in its direction. No one made a move to get up and so Lorna took it upon herself. No one stopped her.

The heavy oak door opened with many a creak and Lorna could just barely make out through the pounding rain two figures, one male, and one female. She ushered them in hurriedly and they thanked her, dripping on the floor. The woman apologised and Lorna only shook her head. "Tis nothin', Miss. Truly, I'm sorry about the state of your dress. Did you fall and tear it in the storm?" The young woman threw a dark look at the man and nodded.

"I'm sorry." said he dark haired pale beauty. Lorna shook her head and before they could move into the kitchen where everyone else was gathered, some thought seized her. It must have happened when she looked into the man's eyes. "Please forgive me, but this isn't a blessed time for us. My name is Lorna Finn and last night….the rest of my family and I heard the banshee's call. Please, is there anything you can do to help? Anything at all?" The young woman frowned but the tall mad with those old, old eyes nodded slowly.

"A banshee, you say? I though they only appeared to certain families. I don't recall Finn being on that list."

They both spoke with English accents, and yet, this man at least knew Irish culture. Normally, Lorna and her family weren't too fond of the English, but beggars could not be choosers.

"Those families have inter-married so much that almost every family has heard a banshee's wail. We are related to the O'Neill's." The man nodded and Lorna grew impatient. "So can you help us?" As the man nodded slowly again the girl stepped forward and took her hand. "We'll do our best."

Lorna offered her a small smile and led them into the kitchen where her family's eyes looked up at them with mixed emotions.

Lucy saw confusion, sadness, hopelessness and conversely, hope. Lorna stepped forward, standing by the shoulder of a boy around Lucy's age who was holding a baby. "This is Frank, holding Margaret, that's my father Francis, my mother, Edie and….and Grandfather Finn." Lucy took this to mean that the banshee had foretold his death. The Doctor acknowledged each of them as he was introduced and said, "Hello, and thank you for allowing us to enter your home, especially in this time. I'm the Doctor, and this is my…friend Lucy Blake. We're here to help you. Now, Grandfather Finn? I'll need to know everything that happened." As Grandfather Finn retold his tale, Lucy took the seat offered her and motioned for Frank to give her the baby, who had grown fussy. Frank offered her willingly. Lucy took the baby girl in her arms and gently rocked her up and down. Lorna's grandfather had finished speaking and the Doctor was being shown around the Finn house by Francis. Lucy softly crooned the only Gaelic song she knew and then recalled that if they spoke Gaelic here, her song would come out as pure nonsense. But nobody questioned her and she thought they must have assumed that she was singing in English. Her head started to hurt and she concentrated on singing only. She wasn't the best, but she thought that at least she could carry a tune. And sure enough, Margaret stopped squirming and fell asleep. Edie stretched out her hands and Lucy gave her back her child. Frank looked at her with admiring curiosity and she smiled back at him. The Doctor came back into the room, bespectacled and pursing his lips.

"Anything, Doctor? Have you found anything?"

He motioned for her to follow him and she rose, accompanying him into the hall where the front door was. Francis had gone back into the kitchen with the others and Lorna was busy making another pot of tea.

"They're aliens." The Doctor said.

"The Finns? But, they seem so-"

"No, not the Finns, the banshees. I've been all over the house; I went into the grandfather's room and had the sonic screwdriver all over it once Francis left. There was loads of background radiation, the stiff you soak up when you travel in time, you've got it, and I've got it. Grandfather Finn said he saw the banshee appear by his bed toward the window. The screwdriver showed that extraterrestrial activity was peak there. I'm guessing they use some sort of sonar like thing, like bats do, and project their call to these families."

"But they foretell death, Doctor. How do they do it? Is it just luck? I've heard that sometimes, when someone is given a frightening but general prediction, they themselves make it happen, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe because they expect someone to die, it will just sort of happen, I mean, people can die of fright."

"You don't believe in ghosts, do you?"

"No I don't, but what does that matter, you said they're aliens."

"I did say that. And I meant it as well. But I think you're on to something. I don't know why the banshees are here, but people think of explanations for things they have no other reason for, that's how religions get started. So maybe when the banshees showed up-"

"So did the explanations." Finished Lucy, but then she wasn't finished. "Hold on. I've just thought of something else. We've been working on the basis that the banshees are benign. What if they're not just foretelling the deaths of these people but-"

"Actually causing them, instead." said the Doctor, taking his turn to finish her sentence.

Lucy bit her bottom lip and led the way back into the kitchen. How would they be able to test their hypothesis? Would the banshee return every night until a member of their family dropped dead? Or would the banshee return every night to deliver the sentence herself? It wasn't exactly like they could go round knocking people up until a banshee showed up and they were able to actually watch her suck the life out of someone. Lucy shuddered at the thought.

"Sorry, it's always cold in here." Lorna's mother Edie was looking at her, apologising for something she had no control over, apologising falsely, since Lucy's discomfort was caused by something else entirely. She only shook her head and said,

"No, I'm fine. Really, it was just nice of you to let us in."

"And now I hear you're going to help us. Francis said the Doctor looked all over the house, all the while with something in his eyes. It's us who should be thanking you."

The Doctor put his hand up modestly and Lucy only shook her head absently. At long last, the Doctor spoke. "I believe, _we _believe that the banshee is not only foretelling the deaths of family, but….but actually carrying them out."

This statement was met with silence. Lucy looked over at Grandfather Finn, who instead of looking fearful, seemed outraged.

"Are you suggesting, sir, that these phantoms are killing Irish families? It's you English who are responsible for more 'n half our suff'rings!"

"Now, Grandfather, be reasonable. These two have offered their help and their guidance and who are we to throw it away? Do they look like they control the government? Do they look like they have any say over what happens in their own country, let alone ours?" Grandfather Finn said nothing, but glared apologetically at Lucy and the Doctor. Lucy didn't think it was even possible to glare apologetically, but she'd just seen it done. The Doctor went on. "Now that we've got that cleared up, are we expecting the banshee to show up again? Because Lucy and I can't very well stay here until….well, you see what I mean."

Frank offered up his own voice, looking all the while at Lucy. "There have been hundreds of different accounts. Some say the banshee will come every night. Some say she is never seen again, except for her warning. Or that she's only seen again at the actual time of death, and help guides the departed to Heaven. There are stories that after her warning she remains with the family until the death happens, never seen, but always there." Lucy didn't believe in ghosts but there was certainly something heavy and oppressive shrouding this family. Maybe it was just expectation itself. Her first idea was that that was all there was to it anyway.

The Doctor was nodding, taking everything in, and using it to his advantage.

"So, if she's still here, it follows that she's here for a reason, which also means that she knows everything every one of us has said."

"This is a clever one." Every living person in the room held his or her breath. The voice that had just spoken was cold, a shrill whisper. Directly behind Grandfather Finn was a spectral woman with long fair hair, a sweeping gown, pale as the moon skin and a face that would be fair itself, were it not for the demented smile twisting her otherwise lovely features. "You, Doctor, are the first in many hundred years to guess our true nature. And because of this land's recent inter-breeding, we have had so many more to feast upon."

"Then who are you here for today?" Lucy said, rising. The banshee turned her face to Lucy, said nothing, but then looked down at Grandfather Finn and grinned widely. Grandfather Finn didn't look round at her, he didn't dare. Maybe it was this look that would kill him, that would cause his demise.

"What planet do you come from? It's not Earth, I know that." Lucy said next.

"You know more than you seem, girl. We come from so far away. Many, many light years, thousands of your lifetimes."

"And how do you kill people? Why? What can you possible gain?" Lucy was bordering on frantic, she was so curious, but she knew the situation was dire.

"They sustain us. Watch." And as she bent down toward Grandfather Finn, making him rise and turn to face her with her pale, slender hands, the Doctor and Lucy both lurched forward, reaching out to him, screaming, "No!"

But it was too late. The banshee had affixed her mouth to Grandfather Finn's and was sucking out his very life force. Lucy couldn't help but think that it was not unlike the Dementors in Harry Potter. Maybe this was where Rowling had got her macabre idea. Everyone was on their feet, paralysed with fear. Francis was shielding his wife Edie, who in turn was holding her baby Margaret close, looking away from her father-in-law. Frank was holding back a silently sobbing Lorna who had one had still stretched out to her grandfather in a vain attempt to reach him. Lucy lowered her own arm, putting her hand to her mouth in disgust, or maybe protection. This was one of the most horrific things she'd ever seen and yet, no tears came. Perhaps she was still in shock. She hated to think that she might be getting used to the idea of death. It did seem to follow in the Doctor's wake. Or was it the other way round?

In no time at all, the banshee had finished with her meal. She let Grandfather Finn fall to the floor, slumping, sprawled like an animal.

"Satisfied, girl? I'm not. You see, now that your friend knows our secret, I'm afraid I can't let any one of you live. My sisters and I have been far too comfortable for far too long, but no more." And with that she let out a piercing, horrible cry. Her scream, the most terrible thing Lucy had ever heard, caused everyone in the room to clap their hand's to their ears. Edie was holding one hand to her ear, the other pressed up against her husband, the free hand holding Margaret, whose cries were totally drowned out. Lucy saw six more banshees appear, totaling seven. One for each of them. Seven lovely, petrifying banshees stood before them, ready to feast. Lucy could see no way out.

However, the Doctor could see one. It was a long shot, but that was all he needed. Lately, the sonic screwdriver was doing more than it ever had. It was doing unexpected things that often proved useful. So he took a risk and as the banshees approached them, he tinkered with the screwdriver, pushed a button and-

Yes! The sonic screwdriver let out its own banshee-like wail. The banshees all screamed along with it, but in pain, not revelry or warning. The only downside was the humans could hear it as well. They had all clapped their hands to their ears again and were actually sinking to the ground, trying to escape it. The sound was starting to bother him. Finally though, one by one, the banshees burst into dust, leaving heaps upon the floor. The Doctor let go the button and the noise ceased at once. The humans all slowly rose to their feet again, scarcely breathing. Lucy let out a shaky breath and the Doctor turned to her, eyes filled with woe. He looked passed her though, and instead at each Finn in turn. Addressing Lorna, the first to ask for his help he said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I was too late to save your grandfather. I'm-"

"Please, Doctor." said Francis. "You did what you could and we all, as awful as I feel saying it, expected him to die. That is how it has been. Now we just that the manner was more evil than we had all originally thought. But you've destroyed the banshees now. And you've save the rest of our lives." Edie nodded, still trying to sooth Margaret. The Doctor sighed and put his hand on the small of Lucy's back, leading her out into the hall. The Finns all followed and the Doctor turned back to them and said, "Thank you, again. Lucy and I are going now."

"Take care." Lucy said, giving a small wave. They left without another word, leaving the Finn family in somewhat stunned silence. Most of the rain had ceased and the sun was even beginning to peek out from behind the clouds. They had started walking toward the T.A.R.D.I.S. but then Lucy stopped, and held on to the Doctor's jacket so that he had to stop too. He turned to look at her and raised his eyebrows. Her tiny scar was almost invisible in this half-light, and yet, even when he could see it, it didn't make her less beautiful. She was frowning slightly, not saying anything. She was biting her lower lip, her adorable habit she had when she was thinking about something. He knew better than to ask her before she finished. Not half a minute later though, she said, "We can't leave yet. No, hear me out. I wanted a nice trip to the past and we got banshees. My trip to the future was not made up for with hover cars the fact that we were almost killed by a giant fish-thing. I'm in Ireland, mate, and we're going to a pub." The Doctor looked at Lucy, almost incredulous. He didn't say anything so she tugged his hand, walking back toward town already and said, "Go on then, I'll buy you a drink." And he was sold. So they walked arm-in-arm toward the nearest pub in the ever-lightening sky.


	11. Broken

He had said that she was special. He had said he loved traveling with her. He had said she was brilliant. He had lied.

Lucy Blake was staring at her own trembling fingers, was closing her watering eyes again, was now staring at her own fate. She took a shaking breath in and accidentally let a tear spill onto the photo she held. She wiped it away, fighting the urge to both tear the picture into tiny pieces and clutch it to her breast and never let it go. She was holding a photo of Rose Tyler. Her blonde, smiling face had no idea it would be lost in a parallel universe, that was what the Doctor had told her at least. And apparently, she had a Doctor of her own, but one with only one heart who would never grow old. The Doctor had admitted that he'd loved her. That a part of him still loved her. He didn't know what she'd found, just that she'd had a nagging curiosity about his life before her. Lucy could now match the stories with the evidence. Beside her was a small chestnut box of photos and other things. There weren't many, but there were just enough to tear Lucy's heart apart. She set down the one of Rose, with her arm around a bloke called Mickey and picked up one of a beautiful black girl called Martha. She was in this very room, looking over her shoulder at the camera and about to hang a lab coat up in the armoire. The Doctor was standing a bit farther away from her, holding the sonic screwdriver and glaring at the camera, which seemed to be held by Jack. His hand had made it into the edge of the frame, like it was waving. The Doctor had told her that Martha now worked for Torchwood and was somewhat of a soldier. He said he'd done that to her. The next photo in the pile was of a red-headed woman named Donna. The Doctor had barely been able to hold back tears as he told of how she was the most important person in the universe for a few hours, was even a Timelord-human hybrid, and now wouldn't, couldn't remember any of it. In this photo she was smiling, it was somewhat close up so Lucy couldn't tell where it was. But towards the top of the frame was a purple Converse shoe that could only be the Doctor's. There were other photos that Lucy had already looked at, all in the same vein.

The next item she found was a letter. The paper was incredibly old and had a single tear stain on it. It was addressed to the Doctor from Reinette. She hadn't thought to ask about her, but from the letter's content she seemed to think she was dying. She called the Doctor an angel, a lonely angel. The last thing in the box was a blue diary, which Lucy couldn't even think about reading. A letter was one thing, but this was quite another. She only cracked open the front cover and saw the name River Song written across it. Lucy put everything back into the box, hid it in the floorboard where she'd found it, and then stared at said floorboard for a long time. Why did he hide it in here? Surely it would occur to him that the best place to store memories of his former companions was not in the current one's room. And then again, it had been all their rooms. Rose, Martha, Donna and River at least had all stayed here. On the very bed she sat on now. Lucy looked round the room, hating and loving it. She was infuriated, but she never wanted to leave. She couldn't just go back to living like a normal human. She couldn't think of trying to connect to everyday people. She couldn't go back to working at Thoreau Threads. And yet she knew this life would not last. The Doctor would tire of her, or maybe something terrible would happen to her. She was starting to think that she preferred that option. Lucy dried her eyes and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was being watched. She slowly raised her head, hoping that she could mask her anguish as exhaustion.

"Lucy, what's wrong?" he sounded alarmed.

Ok, so she couldn't mask it. He had totally screwed up her life. She used to be so good at hiding how she felt, so that no one could get in. But he had made her feel so much in so short a time that she was now no longer able to hide it. She decided not to play games.

"How many people have you traveled with, Doctor?" she tried to keep anything out of her voice. She looked straight at him, not accusing, but not exactly friendly.

He furrowed his brow, looking down at the ground. When he answered, he seemed to know where her line of questioning was headed.

"Quite a few. I'm really very old, Lucy, so you could understand, I'm sure. You've no idea what it's like-"

"Being alone all the time? Not feeling like anyone understands you? Not letting anyone get close to you this time because it just hurts too damn much?"

"It's different, Lucy, you've had a twin, I'm the last of my own species, and every one I love gets taken away from me!"

Lucy couldn't say anything to that. He was right, but still.

"Before you start yelling at me again, I want you to know something. I said the same thing to Rose, but it's just as true now as it was then. You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't. Whether you like it or not, one day you will die, and I'll still be here. And I can't watch that happen." Lucy stared at him, and could feel herself deflate. She couldn't be angry at him, but she wanted to be so badly. She wanted to run at him, scream and slap him right across the face and then she wanted to dissolve into tears and sink, shaking to the floor. But she didn't. She just sat there on the edge of the bed. It had stopped being "hers" and started being "the." Both of them were silent for a long while, and then, in a small voice, Lucy said, "Who was Reinette?"

The Doctor looked up at her, mouth open. "She, er, she was a French aristocrat. You would know her as Madame de Pompadour."

"You traveled with Madame de Pompadour?"

"No, but I knew her. It's sort of an odd story, but I ended up on a space ship that had different bits of her life in it. And I was too late to save her. And she died."

"You would have messed with history traveling with her."

"Maybe." he said, nodding. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah. Who was River Song?"

"You saw-"

"I didn't read it, I only saw her name."

"Well, and that's the strange thing, I technically haven't met her yet." Lucy lowered her head, peering at the Doctor from underneath her eye lashes. He almost laughed at her expression and then said, "The first time I met her was the last time she met me. We sort of went backwards, you know. She called me, needing my help before I'd met her in my own timeline."

And now Lucy was unable to stop herself from letting a single tear escape her eye. She sort of reeled in her seat and the Doctor was at her side at once. He was kneeling, holding her hand looking up at her. He didn't say anything, his eyes just searched hers.

"This means," she said, voice breaking, "this means that there will definitely be a time when I won't be with you, because if she knew me, she would have mentioned me."

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, nothing is definite. You didn't let me finish. She died. That time when she needed my help, she died. She saved my life that way. So I don't even know if I'll meet her anymore. I don't know….I don't know anything. And yeah, that scares me. Listen, Lucy, I can't guarantee anything. But-"

"Please. You don't have to say anything." Lucy's voice was coming out so quiet, barely above a whisper. "But you can understand why, why it would be hard for me. Because this is sort of like, I dunno, facing your own mortality. You've changed my life; you did the moment you looked at me in Thoreau's. And I can't go back to that life I had, I just can't." The Doctor was looking down at the floor and then he raised his deep brown eyes right to hers. He locked her in his gaze and Lucy felt she couldn't even move.

"We don't have to worry about that now. I'm not making any plans to get rid of you. Every single thing I've said to you is true."

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it, right?" Lucy was smiling now, goading him.

"Right." He said softly, sharing her smile. He held onto her hand, making her stand as he stood. She looked up at him, barely reaching his collar bone. "Well come on then, I thought you'd like this." And without another word, he led her out the door of _her _room and into the main space of the T.A.R.D.I.S. He opened the front door, though they were still in space. Before Lucy could peer round his shoulder, however, he covered her eyes with his hands and led her slowly to the edge. When he removed his hands, Lucy gasped. In front of her, two masses were colliding. Well, that's what it looked like anyway. A straight, Milky Way like shape that was yellow and white in colour was being invaded by what looked like a spiral galaxy, all green and light blue. "W-what is it?"

"These two galaxies are colliding. That yellowish one is called the Banana Galaxy, clever isn't it? And the green spiral is the Scorpio Galaxy. Their civilizations are long since gone and after they finish colliding, they might create a black hole. They might not though. But this is a once in a lifetime occurrence, so I thought you'd be happy to see it." Lucy relaxed against the Doctor's chest, assuming that she could still breathe because the T.A.R.D.I.S. was sustaining her. She watched as two histories crashed into each other, ripping apart, bonding back together, whatever it was doing. It was beautiful.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Not at all, Miss Blake." She stepped away from him and let him close the door. "I already have our next destination picked out, I brought Martha and Rose here and each time it was different. But this time, I think I got it right." Lucy felt the familiar hum of the ship beneath and around her and then they landed. The Doctor led the way out again.

The Doctor pushed the door open and Lucy followed, bounding slightly ahead of him. "Where are we?"

"New Earth. It's the year five billion and old Earth was destroyed. This planet had the same general make-up as Earth and all kinds of people flocked to it." Lucy was grinning when she heard the shot. She didn't even see who it was, but she saw as the Doctor was hit with a volt that electrified him and made him fall backwards into the T.A.R.D.I.S. He landed perfectly inside and as Lucy screamed bloody murder, she was grabbed from behind and a hand clamped down over her mouth. She was close enough to the ship that when she kicked out with all her strength, she was able to close the door with her foot. She put up so much of a struggle that her assailant set her down and then knocked her out with one powerful blow to the back of the head.

Lucy felt an awful stabbing sensation in her shoulder blades. Her eyes weren't open yet, but her other senses were working just fine. She was sitting, her legs bent to the right. They were stiffening up, and the pins and needles sensation was starting to grow in them. The stabbing sensation she had thought was a knife in her back was actually the feeling she was getting from her arms being pulled back and shackled above her to a concrete wall. She flexed her wrists and could feel that the shackles were loose. She could trace an entire circle round the diameter. She pulled down gently and found that she was stuck, the heel of her hands just slightly too big to slide through. Her hair was half tied back, the parts that hung loosely damp from sweat. She ran her tongue along her lips and found them cracked. When she opened her mouth and stretched it, she felt a couple small tears and then the cool liquid of her own blood. She licked the salty substance away, disliking the rusty smell and metallic taste. She finally opened her eyes and, although her head was still down, realised that it was dim, though not totally dark in the room. There must be a window above her, because silvery moonlight was pouring in. Directly in front of her was an iron door that had three bars over a tiny window. A cat flap was at the bottom, presumably to shove food through. She took in a ragged breath but the air was just as stale as before. Looking down at herself, Lucy saw that her black cashmere three quarter sleeved shirt was drenched with sweat. She pressed her back up against the wall, sitting straight and felt a different kind of dampness. It still smelled like rust. But her lips weren't bleeding anymore. Oh. The back of her head. Someone had hit her there and she'd gone out. She wondered how long she'd been here. Wherever "here" was. Oh god! Her head snapped up and knocked against the wall behind her. Ouch. The wound obviously hadn't healed. Or she reopened it, she thought, tears springing to her eyes. But the thought that caused these tears was not her pain. It was the Doctor. He had been shot right in the chest, electrified, and he'd fallen to the ground! He was in the T.A.R.D.I.S. all by himself! He might be- No! Don't think that, she told herself over and over. She looked round the room again, ignoring the stiffness in her jean clad legs when she moved. And there, to her right was the last sight she ever expected to see; another human being. She was about her age. She was slumped in much the same position as Lucy herself had been. Her hair was dark red and reached just a little long than Lucy's. Her skin was as fair as Lucy's and she looked near the same build, a little taller and a little heavier.

"Hello?" Lucy called. Her voice was hoarse and rough and she could feel her lips bleeding again. "Hello? Oh, please answer me, please don't be dead." Lucy watched as the girl ever so slowly raised her head and turned to look at her. Her face would be lovely when it wasn't like this. She had two black eyes and her lips were bleeding as well. There was a dark bruise that went all the way round her neck, like someone had strangled her. Her eyes seemed to be adjusting, perhaps she had been asleep?

"When did they get you?" the girl's voice was also hoarse and broke in several places, like glass splintering on the ground. Lucy thought she might have been from the North, maybe Wales.

"I-I dunno. I don't know when they got me. They knocked me out. When did they get you?"

"Well, they've pushed seven bowls of something I hardly touch through that cat flap, so I'm guessing about a week.

"A week!"

"They haven't broken you yet. I'd wager you haven't been more'n a day." Lucy tried to pretend that the girl's chilling statement didn't rattle her. She had no doubt that she didn't mean it to sound that way. She was probably half insane. "Well what's your name then?"

The girl didn't answer for a moment, like she had forgotten. She looked briefly up at her right hand, where Lucy could see something tattooed on the outside of her index finger. It was a bar code. Then the girl looked and said in a very sad voice, "Cara, Cara Small." Lucy fought back tears as she said, "Well I'm Lucy Blake. And what do you mean, 'they?' Who are they? How many of them are there?" The girl didn't have to think long this time.

"When they were putting my bar code on there were seven of them. But one of them got killed yesterday, disobeying orders, I think. And another one was seriously injured."

"But who are they? Have they taken over new Earth or something?"

"Not exactly. This is just Great Britain. They have plans of reigniting the British Empire. Only they are called the Alliance of the Sun. They have brands on them, initiation, I think. They're all of blood red suns."

"How many prisoners are there?"

"They just took Kenneth away. Before I fell asleep and you got here. I don't know if they have more people in other rooms, but in the seven days I've been here, I've seen six people, including you."

"But you only mentioned one name, what happened to the others?"

"Kenneth was taken away to be tortured. That's what they do. They think we're all traitors to the crown, but it's not true. The first day I was here, they killed this man called Matthew Johns. They just executed him. The next day they killed this woman, Rebecca, I think her name was. And just yesterday Rowan Carver joined them. They took him away to be tortured and he buckled and joined them. And…..there was Emma Parkis. She was only eighteen."

"They killed her too?"

"Not outright, they didn't. They brought her back from being tortured for over an hour and she just…died right here in the cell."

"My god. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lucy said, stealing the Doctor's line. She heard footsteps in the hall and then the heavy bolt turning on the other side of the door. Cara slumped against the wall again, looking almost absently at the door. Lucy would have none of that, she sat straight up and watched as a tall man in a grey uniform shoved a broken man inside. He crumpled to the floor, unable to stand on his own. The guard picked him up, dragging him across the floor, and shackled him on Lucy's other side. She looked over at him, eyes wide. He was glaring at the guard, his nose bloodied and probably broken, his face and arms covered in bruises. Lucy even thought she could see a cigarette burn on his collar bone. The guard turned his sneering face to Lucy. He took a key out of his breast pocket and unlocked Lucy's chains. Her arms fell and at once the stabbing sensation multiplied by ten. She grimaced and then winced as the guard grabbed her roughly and led her out of the room. She could walk, but her legs were incredibly stiff. The guard led her down a dank hallway. It was too brightly lit and she blinked, almost grateful for her guide. He led her all the down the hallway and then up a flight of stairs. Once up, he opened a door directly in front of them. He guided her all the way to a metal chair in the centre of the wide room. This room was almost completely dark, much like the dungeon where she had been. One lamp hung from the centre of the ceiling, shining down on her. She could sense that she was not alone, though. And sure enough, as the guard left and shut the door behind him, five figures approached her. She saw four men, much like the guard. Each had the sun brand on the right side of his neck. There was one woman and she looked to be the leader of the group. Her sun was branded onto her chest. Her skin was tanned, like the colour of cinnamon and her hair was straight and jet black. Her eyes were poison green and Lucy thought she was beautiful. Lucy also thought that this woman was going to kill her. She nodded to a guard on her left, all the while looking at Lucy. The guard stepped forward with a strange looking needle in his right hand. There was a pot of ink on a small table beside him. Lucy realised she was going to get her very own bar code.

"Wait." The woman said. "We don't even know her number yet. Am I right, Stanton, that you found her outside the compound in the company of a man?"

"Yes, Captain. We shot the man and he fell back inside his transport. He is of no importance to us, alien life form, but she didn't check out on the scan, so we took her in."

"Quite right, Stanton, quite right. So now, girl, you're going to tell me who you are and then we can get on with this." Lucy said not a word, just looked coldly up at the Captain. After a few minutes of their staring contest, the Captain seemed to get bored. "Looks like this one is going to be difficult. No matter, we can skip the code for now and get straight to persuasion. Now, girl, I want you to tell me who you are." The captain snapped her fingers and one guard with a fag stepped forward. Lucy knew what was coming and braced herself. But she couldn't ignore the searing pain of the cigarette being put out on her arm. She let a hiss escape her lips, but no other sound. The captain's lip curled. She indicated to another guard, who stepped forward and punched Lucy squarely in the nose. She felt it break, but still said nothing as she bled. She was breathing through her mouth now and glaring at the captain. She wasn't going to get her hands dirty. And Lucy knew that she would take every punch these guards could dole out until the captain had no other choice. "Should we hit her again, Rollins?" And now Lucy had her name. Rollins sneered and said, "No. I've had enough. She wants to play games? Fine, we can do that. Take her back to the cell, she doesn't eat." The guard who'd put the cigarette out on her grabbed her arm and led her put the door, down the stairs, along the hallway and into the cell. She was shoved against the wall and shackled again. Only when the guard left did Lucy let one tear fall then wiped it away, and most of the blood from her broken nose onto her pant leg. Cara and Kenneth were both asleep, and possibly unconscious. Lucy rested her head against the wall and looked up toward the window, through which light was starting to stream. "Wake up, Doctor. Come find me."


	12. Hearts

Lucy Blake awoke to the sounds of the heavy iron door opening. Two bowls of some kind of grey matter were shoved inside, one for Kenneth, one for Cara. Lucy vaguely remembered Rollins saying she didn't get to eat. From the looks of this stuff, that was fine by her. She was beginning to think, however that the pain in her shoulder blades would never go away. The guard saw that she was awake and slapped her in the face to quicken the process. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cara flinch. Lucy blinked, seeing stars and felt a tiny trail of blood go down her right cheek, the one that was already scarred. She looked at the guard's hand and saw that he wore a ring. It was on his ring finger. Who would marry this monstrosity, she wondered? He was sneering at her as he said, "Fink your so tough, then, do ya, love? Well, we'll break you before long. Some'ow." Lucy said nothing, only blinked up at him, face perfectly impassive. She stared him down, turning off the pain in her back, the dull ache of her head and the growling of her stomach. She would never speak.

"Not talkin', eh? Well, summing's bound to get to yeh. 'Ow, about this?" And he took half a step closer to Cara and punched her hard in the stomach. Lucy's eyes widened, and although she kept her vow of silence, she strained with all her might against her bonds, trying to break the chains and crawl over to Cara, who was taking in gasping breaths. Lucy had given herself away. The guard was staring at her, laughing, enjoying her anguish. "Knew you 'ad a weak spot, I did. And Captain Rollins will be 'appy to ear that." And with that, he unshackled Cara Small and dragged her away, still gasping. As Cara half walked, half stumbled across the room Lucy heard the guard say, "They won't even recognise you when we're done." Cara's eyes were wide, pleading and Lucy screamed, "No!" in her loudest, shrillest voice. Screw the vow of silence. But the guard only smiled again, victorious, and led Cara away. Lucy sat back against the wall, sobbing. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is all my fault. They're gonna kill her!" Kenneth was sitting quite still, staring at the door where Cara had last been seen. Lucy turned her head to him and said, "I'm so sorry."

Kenneth didn't say anything. He didn't even look at her. He just sat there and stared. Lucy didn't need to ask to know that he loved her. Every now and again he would absently mouth her name. After an hour had gone by, with no sign of Cara or anyone else, he relaxed, lolling his head to look in Lucy's direction. Lucy herself was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest. She longed to wrap her arms around them but they were chained above her. At long, long last, Lucy and Kenneth heard footsteps. Moonlight was pouring through the window above them again. The door opened and they saw the guard leading a half dead Cara through the door. He walked halfway across the room with her and then shoved her down, letting her fall onto the floor directly in front of Lucy. She was laying sideways, head near Lucy's now crossed legs, the rest of her body pointing to where she had been shackled. Lucy saw that her eyes were fluttering. A large gash was on her head and blood was pouring freely into her eyes. Lucy saw, suppressing the urge to be sick, that one of her legs was broken, lying at an odd angle. Her wrists were scratched and scored, like she had been bound with something jagged, maybe a frayed length of rope. Her breath was coming in tiny gasps, so shallow she was like a baby bird. Cara looked directly at Lucy and tried to open her mouth. Lucy saw blood trail from the corner of it and knew that she was done for. The guard was watching all this with growing amusement.

And then, Cara lifted her hand and rested it on Lucy's knee. Her finger stroked the fabric absently and then her hand fell limp, her eyes closed and she breathed no more.

Lucy's mouth fell open and tears fell freely from her eyes. She could see that the guard was grinning hugely, relishing his victory in making her experience real pain. He was going to stay and savour this, she just knew. He was going to drink in her misery. He was going to die. Lucy braced herself. She focused all her energy on doing this one task. She raised her wrists in their loose chains and with all her might forced them downwards. She felt horrible pain as the chains took the skin off her hands. But she was free. She looked at her shaking, red hands and then up at the guard. He was stunned, mouth hanging open, backing away from her. He didn't even have the wits to grab the communicator at his hip and radio for back up. She rose on shaking legs and glared her most fearsome stare at him. By this time he was almost to the door. Lucy would not let him get that far. Some kind of animalistic instinct welled up inside her, turning her vision red, tasting bile in her mouth. All she saw was fury and how it consumed her. He had killed an innocent girl in order to get to her. Fine. If that was the case, she was as good as got. She sprinted with all her might toward the guard, screaming her rage. As her body collided with his, she grabbed hold of his collar, forcing him back to the iron door. She was still running with him and the only thing that stopped her was him, hitting the iron door. She let go and he looked dizzy, eyes rolling around in his head. She didn't let him regain any ground and seized his head again, banging it into the door over and over. He finally slumped to the ground, presumably dead. Lucy breathed in several ragged breaths and slowly turned to face Kenneth, who also stared at her open-mouthed, and to Cara's lifeless body. She stumbled over to her, falling to her knees. She cradled her head in her lap and cried, tears spilling onto Cara's face. She had just killed someone. She'd killed someone who had killed lots of other people, who wanted to kill her, but all the same. She thought herself no better than him. And yet, had she the opportunity to go back and relive that moment, she wouldn't change a single thing. Standing, she gently set Cara's head down and walked over to the guard. Digging in his pockets, she found the keys.

Lucy crossed back over to Kenneth and wordlessly unlocked him from his chains. He rubbed his wrists as the rusted metal fell loose and stared up at her. She offered him a bloody hand and he took it and let her help him stand. He put a hand on her shoulder, silently thanking her, whether for killing their jailor, or just setting him free, she didn't know. She made to leave, readying herself for the fight to come, but his hold tightened on her. She turned around and saw him bending down to pick Cara up. He held her the same way the Doctor had held Lucy after she'd fallen out of the mirror in Wales. Lucy's jaw clenched and she fought off the tears by biting down on her tongue, hard. They walked out the door, Lucy leading the way and down the hallway. Once they reached the stairs, Lucy switched positions, moving to Kenneth's back in order to spot him in case he faltered and slipped. Before opening the door to the room containing the rest of the guards and Captain Rollins, Kenneth moved farther down the hallway, setting Cara safely down, out of reach. Silently, Kenneth moved Lucy aside, motioning for her to stay against the wall. She did, and watched as he ran into the door with his shoulder, breaking it down. Lucy then dashed through right behind Kenneth, to find their torturers completely stunned. Rollins was standing in the centre of a semi-circle. She looked livid upon seeing the two prisoners. "What the hell is going on here? Where's Rudolpho?" Kenneth brought himself to his full height, a sizeable 190cm. He squared his jaw and threw back his shoulders. "He's dead. He was in the way." Kenneth's voice was deep, like boulders crashing together and he was quite intimidating. Lucy, only 160cm tall, weighing only seven stone, was still fierce. Her fury made up what she lacked in size. With her stance, feet apart, glaring eyes, hard grimace and utterly silent, she was also quite scary. Rollins' lip was curling and she had hate written in every feature. Lucy had qualms with taking a life, even hers, even Rudolpho's. But if it came to a fight, there would be no holds barred. Rollins snapped her fingers and the remaining three guards advanced on them. Kenneth took two, punching, kicking and hitting every surface he could reach. The third was Lucy's. He immediately seized her in a choke hold, ready to strangle the life out of her. But Lucy was prepared. She remembered the good old days, when Evan Blake had tried the very same thing. She raised her left arm in the air and brought it down, over the guard's arm. Her right hand gripped his that was holding her and didn't let it move. He looked at her in confusion and that was when she struck. She rammed her elbow into the guard's face, twice and he let go. She coughed, rubbing her sore throat. He came at her again, swinging and she ducked. But this time he was ready and he kicked her in the stomach and she went down hard. Lucy lay on the ground, pretending to be more winded than she was. The guard came up to her, ready to strike her again. She swung her legs round, knocking him in the back of the knees. This time he crumpled, and as he did, Lucy shoved the heel of her hand into his nose and she felt it break. She recognised him as the one who had broken her own nose. She indicated it, still not saying a word, and winked at him. He fell to the ground, and Lucy was facing Rollins.

Apparently, though, Rollins was not going to take her chances and she ran. Lucy turned tail, following after her. She had left Kenneth still fighting off two guards, but she couldn't afford to go back and help. Rollins was running down a different hallway, toward a set of glass doors that led outside. Lucy almost stopped running to drink in this welcome sight. But she'd be there soon. And sure enough, Rollins threw the doors open, Lucy charging after her into the early morning sun. She had no idea where they were, but when people saw this battered girl chasing after an officer of the Alliance of the Sun, they came running too. Soon, Rollins was surrounded by the members of an angry town. A town that had been terrorized, and now was out for blood. They were all making to attack her, but for the first time, Lucy let her voice be heard. It cracked from lack of use, but her words rang out all the same. "Wait! Don't come any closer to her. Captain Rollins, I will not be the one to kill you. Now I have no control over these people, nor the right to control them. And neither do you. So I can't guarantee that you'll be alive for very much longer. But I would caution these people to let you live. To let you live in captivity, in darkness, hopefully with unquenchable grief and regret. I don't even know if you're capable of those emotions, but God, if you are, I hope you live a very long life with them. My name is Lucy Blake, and I travel with a man called the Doctor. And your guards were wrong when they said he was of no importance, because together, he and I are going to bring down the Sun!" The crowd that had gathered put up a cheer and then watched as Lucy strode over to the loathsome Captain Rollins. She put her face right in front of hers, and only those closest heard Lucy say in a low, threatening voice, "I hope you live forever."

And with that, without another word, Lucy turned round, turned her back on the only person she had truly come to hate in a long while. She could feel the town's eyes on her back, but that didn't matter. She ran with a new purpose now: find the Doctor.

It didn't take her long to find the spot where the T.A.R.D.I.S had landed and the first good thing in almost two days happened now. It was still there, door closed and locked. Lucy was already crying as she drew out her key from underneath her blood and sweat soaked shirt and unlocked the door.

There, on the ground, still unconscious, was the Doctor. Lucy hurriedly bent down to him and put her ear to his mouth. She felt only the tiniest breath of air. So she extended her fingers to his neck and felt for a pulse. There, ever so faint, so thready and almost like an echo, was the Doctor's pulse. The only thing she could think of to do was C.P.R. She didn't know how to fly the T.A.R.D.I.S. and she certainly couldn't carry him to a hospital, even if she knew where one was. So she pushed for all she was worth on his chest and breathed two short puffs of air into his mouth. Nothing was happening. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. And then Lucy remembered, and felt like an idiot for not having done sooner. "Two hearts!" she exclaimed to herself. And now she compressed on both sides of his chest and then blew in air to his lungs. She did this twice and then-

The Doctor breath in, gasping, eyes wide! As he struggled to rise, Lucy knocked him back down, hugging him close to her. Confused, her put his hands on her back and then said in a weak voice, "Lucy, Lucy, please, let up; I only just started breathing again." And Lucy sat up, crying and smiling.

The Doctor was trying to make sense of what was going on as he sat up. Instantly, he realised that he had been knocked out, had been electrocuted. Lucy had brought him back and was now staring at him, looking awful. Her cheek was still bleeding from the guard's slap, her hair was matted with blood, she had a dark ring around her neck, with distinct finger marks and her nose was clearly broken, and he could tell had only recently stopped bleeding. He looked down at her hands, each their own red mess. His own clothes and face were smeared with blood where she had brought him back to life and then hugged him. He moved to his knees and took Lucy's tiny wrists in his hands. He had always thought her hands were beautiful, so delicate, fingers thin and perfectly tapered. They were so sure, deft and agile and now they were bloodied, nearly every nail chipped, and quite raw. He handled them as gently as he could, and still she winced in pain as he touched her. She was looking up at him and he could see further sadness in her stormy eyes. It was his turn to hug her close, putting his arms round her shaking shoulders. As he felt her head rest against his shoulder, he let a single tear escape from each eye. What had happened to her? As if she could read his mind, she pushed away and took in a deep breath. She told him the whole story, starting from when he'd been shot. She couldn't stop herself from crying when she relayed how this Alliance had taken away Cara Small and brought her back only to let Lucy watch her die. The Doctor pulled her into his arms again, the back of her head against his chest. They stayed like this and Lucy told the rest of the story to his shoes.

"And Doctor, the people in the crowd, I dunno what they did with Rollins, and I don't care but there might still be more people back where they held me. We have to go back and let them out. We have to stop the Alliance." The Doctor let her go and helped her stand. "Quite right, Lucy. Not a moment to waste." He tried to sound cheerful as he wiped a tear off her face, fingers lingering a little too long on the line where her jaw bone met her neck. He tore out the door, holding her hand and they ran together. Lucy was able to follow her memory to where the townspeople had gathered, but she'd been unconscious when she was taken to…wherever it was. They looked round and the only building that looked promising was slightly to their right, about a furlong away. They set off for it and reached it quickly. Lucy recognised the doors immediately and pulled them towards her.

Once inside, Lucy confirmed that this was indeed the building where she'd been held. She led the way down the hallway to a doorway directly in front of a set of stairs. The Doctor saw a girl's body lying not far away and recognised Cara Small from Lucy's description. Lucy seemed to take this as a good sign and went through the doorway whose door was lying about a meter away. Inside the room, two guards were dead on the floor and a third was bound to the metal chair in the centre of the room. Lucy saw that it was the one she'd fought. "Kenneth, are you still here?" she called to the darkness.

Kenneth came forward, armed with what looked like a gun, pointing directly at the Doctor. Lucy stepped in front of him and said, "Relax, Kenneth, this is my friend. He's the Doctor and we're going to help you." Kenneth apparently needed to other persuading and lowered his weapon.

"Should we kill this one?"

"No." said the Doctor and Lucy at the same time. "Let him live." The Doctor continued. Kenneth nodded somewhat reluctantly and the Doctor bid him to tell the story of how the Alliance had come to power. Apparently, London was run by a president, who'd died. He and his Vice President had been murdered, poisoned. Rollins, a prominent member of the Delegates, stepped forward and framed several members of her opposing party for the murders and had them jailed. The people roared for her immediate election and she accepted. Democracy quickly turned to chaos. Rollins set up her Alliance, who terrorized anyone suspected of treasonous acts. Soon, nearly everyone was a suspect and no one was safe. They had only started with the torture chambers about a week ago, starting with Kenneth, Cara, and two others who had started a newsletter, called Alliance of the Moon. They'd written about all things Anti-Sun and were hunted down and punished. When Kenneth had finished, Lucy was shaking her head in disgust and the Doctor was frowning. "Tell me, Kenneth; are there any more prisoners here? In other rooms, maybe?"

"I dunno, we never saw. We could go check." Lucy and the Doctor nodded simultaneously and Kenneth led the way down the stairs, looking briefly at Cara's body. They passed the room where the three of them had been held and looked into each of the other twelve rooms. All empty. "It doesn't make sense to set up this whole place only to persecute one small group of people." Lucy said. But the Doctor had his spectacles on, and was thinking as always. "Maybe you just didn't notice the other people being taken. They grabbed you, Lucy, and they had no evidence that you were a terrorist, just that you didn't have identification."

"Half the time, we were unconscious from being beaten or starved. They could have moved troops through here in that time. We were all half crazed anyway; most of what happened here seems like a nightmare now." The Doctor was nodding, having already thought of this.

"So what happens to the people?"

"The Alliance of the Sun was only ever comprised of Rollins and her thugs. There's that one tied upstairs left and maybe Rollins herself. We can have a proper election now and go back to the way things used to be. Thank you, Lucy, for helping me out."

"What will you do now, Kenneth?"

"I'm going to take Cara to her family in the North. She can be buried there. I was gonna propose to her next week. I never even got to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Said the Doctor. Lucy only looked at Kenneth, her eyes filling, not needing to say anything. She could still feel Cara's hand on her knee, saying goodbye to her. She felt a huge stab of guilt and even a little anger at Cara herself. Why had she said goodbye to her and not to Kenneth? Lucy had felt that the two of them were very similar, maybe kindred spirits caught up in the same mess. Kenneth escorted Lucy and the Doctor back to the world above and they bid goodbye. Lucy watched him go back inside to retrieve his loved one's body. The Doctor was holding out his hand to her when she turned back round and she took it, walking with him back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.

As the Doctor walked back with Lucy, he knew that he would not feel right until he got her back inside and left New Earth, probably never to return. This was by far, the worst experience he'd had on the planet. And he'd been unconscious for most of it. There was no denying now, he thought, as he held the wooden door to his Police Box open for Lucy that he cared for her way more than he should. He quickly set the coordinates for the hospital in New New York. Once there, it was a quick matter of stitching up the back of Lucy's head, setting her perfect nose straight again, and cleaning the rest of her wounds, and then they were back inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. Something seemed to take hold of Lucy and before she went down the hall to her room, she put her hands on either side of the Doctor's face and kissed his forehead lightly. He closed his eyes, barely suppressing a sigh, and then watched as she walked away from him for some much needed sleep. He knew where his next destination would be, set the coordinates and as soon as they were there, he peeked outside and made sure they were in a safe place. He then double checked the lock, and went to his own room for his own much needed sleep.


	13. Choice

Coryn Lu Reaux could not believe her eyes. She was sitting at a café in the South of France, visiting her aunt Genvieve. Aunt Genvieve was sitting at home, leaving Coryn to navigate all by herself. Coryn was far from home, good old Alberta, Canada. But in front of her was the strangest thing she'd ever seen. It was stranger than the mimes and street performers dotting the streets, stranger than her aunt Genvieve's cooking, which she'd always been somewhat skeptical of. Across the street, under a willow tree was a big blue box. It had appeared out of absolutely nowhere and said Police Box on it, and Coryn was sure she'd never seen one. And then the door opened, and first came out a very attractive man in a blue suit. He was tall, thin and had this great hair. He looked back toward the door, waiting for something or someone. Coryn was waiting too, cup still halfway to her lips. And out the door now came a woman. She was short, thin, and really very beautiful. Coryn was jealous of her, and she didn't even know why. The woman's hair was dark black, her skin incredibly pale and she looked up at the man, smiling. He took her hand and they walked over, straight into the café Coryn sat outside of. The woman smiled at her as they passed, but the man didn't seem to see her at all. Coryn turned herself round, watching them as they stood in line, purchased their drinks and then came back outside, sitting at a table across from her. She pretended to be reading the paper, left by the table's previous occupant. She barely read French, though, and cocked her ear so that she could hear this couple's conversation. They were speaking English! They had English accents!

"What is this? It's, it's cinnamon, oh, blast." said the man, sniffing his drink.

The woman rolled her eyes and said, "What's wrong with cinnamon?"

"No, it's not that, it just makes me sneeze." The woman barely suppressed a smile and instead took a sip of her own beverage. The man pulled two objects out of his pocket, a long silver probe-looking thing and a green and silver orb. He pushed a button on the silver probe and seemed to be scanning the orb. It made a strange metallic sound. Coryn looked round the street and found that no one else was so engrossed in these two. They were hardly even looking at them! And the woman, so used to him, for sure, was staring up at the sky, turning an odd necklace in her fingers. It looked like a key. Looking closer, Coryn could see evidence of a recently healed broken nose and a small scar on her right cheekbone. What had happened to this girl? Coryn prided herself on being sneaky, always able to eavesdrop, barely ever noticed. But this woman looked over at her; curious at first, then a little suspicious like she'd known Coryn had been staring at her the whole time. Coryn made quick business of running one hand through her long honey red hair and fishing for her mobile with the other. Of course she had no texts, no calls, no email, nothing. She'd always been somewhat lonely. No father ever, an absent, distant mother, no siblings and hardly any friends.

The man and woman were looking all round the street now, like they were checking to make sure the coast was clear. It was early on a Tuesday morning, so there were very few people out and about. They both stood, the man still holing onto the orb. It was glowing now and starting to revolve. He made to throw it into the air, but the girl stayed his hand when she touched his elbow. He raised his eyebrows at her and she just barely jerked her head back to Coryn herself! He took the briefest glance at her, Coryn, pretending she hadn't noticed a thing, and nodded. The woman let go and the man threw the orb into the sky. It hung there, defying gravity. The two were looking up at it expectantly. It had started to whistle, sort of like a tea kettle and out of nowhere, hurtling down the street came this, this thing! It was like a robot, only flying and it had its arms outstretched in a menacing fashion. The woman was standing directly in its path and the man was holding out the silver probe. As the robot came toward the woman, screeching, it seemed to see Coryn. She didn't know how any of this was possible, but yes, it was changing direction, banking slightly to the right. The man looked back, his eyes wide and Coryn saw her whole boring life flash before her eyes. As the robot reached out to grab her face, she ducked, swinging herself round to the left. The thing collided with the wall behind her, then immediately recovered. Coryn was able to trap it in the table's umbrella, quickly closing it, holding the bottom shut with her hands. She could feel it struggling, clawing, and trying to break loose. The couple walked over to her, the woman saying, "Are you alright?" Coryn nodded, though her eyes were wide and her heart was beating so fast. The man stepped forward and held out the orb, pushing a button on it that Coryn had not seen before. Coryn was unable to hold shut the umbrella, but the thing felt out, quite dead. Maybe. She took in several deep breaths and said frantically, "What is that? I thought it was gonna kill me!" The woman was scooping the thing up, putting it gently back into the orb, which had opened wide enough for it, and then man closed it with his sonic probe. "He's just territorial. Supposed to help, he is, but something's made him go slightly mad." Coryn only nodded, looking to the woman for help, for reassurance. "You're alright; the Doctor's put him to sleep. Or hibernate, or whatever it is you said he did. Anyway, that's him, the Doctor, and I'm Lucy Blake." she extended a hand and Coryn shook it.

"I'm Coryn Lu Reaux."

"American?" Lucy Blake asked.

"No, Canadian. I'm visiting my aunt on vacation though." Lucy Blake nodded and the man called the Doctor looked at Lucy first, so sweetly and then at Coryn. "Well, Coryn Lu Reaux, would you fancy yourself a traveler?"

"I suppose. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Well traveling is the best thing in the universe you can do. Fancy a trip?"

"I'm already on a trip, you know. Besides… you two. I mean, is it always like that? Running and robots. I was in England for the past two Christmases. Titanic? That Star?"

The man laughed, saying, "Yeah, I was there for all of that. I was at Canary Warf too." And then he looked sad and Lucy put a hand on his elbow, squeezing briefly.

"Well, I couldn't live like that. You two, you're, you're strange, you know? Frankly, you scare me to death." The Doctor looked only slightly disappointed and then said,

"Well, alright, suit yourself. Come on Lucy, time to go."

"Hold on, Doctor, I'll be right there." The Doctor looked back and forth between the two women, then shrugged and walked back towards his blue box, hands in his pockets. Lucy looked Coryn in the eye, but didn't say anything for a moment. So Coryn began.

"Is it really always like that, though?"

"Sometimes. But it's worth it, it's so worth it."

"Oh yeah? And what happened to you then?" Coryn said, indicating Lucy's scar and nose.

"That wasn't his fault. But traveling with the Doctor is the best thing you'll ever do. It changes you. He's an alien, you know. He's called a Time Lord. And that's his ship over there; it's called a T.A.R.D.I.S. Time and relative dimension in space. Please come, Coryn, I can tell he's impressed by you."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"I can just tell. It was the way he looked at you."

"Where would we go?"

"Anywhere, anywhen. I told you, we can travel in time as well, and to different planets, different galaxies."

"You look like him, you know. Just, in the eyes, somehow." Lucy gave her a strange look, not sure whether it was a compliment or an accusation. But in a moment she was fine, looking at her expectantly now.

"I suppose, well…I suppose a trip couldn't hurt." Lucy beamed and led her back to this T.A.R.D.I.S. thing. It looked awfully small.

Inside the Doctor's ship, Coryn stood, mouth hanging open. "It's, dear god it's bigger on the inside!" Lucy and the Doctor smiled. Lucy, jerking her head towards Coryn, said to the Doctor, "Is that what I sounded like my first trip?"

"Your eyes were wider." She hit him playfully on the shoulder and then he turned to Coryn.

"So, Miss Lu Reaux, where do you want to go? Oh, I love rhyming." Coryn was bewildered. What did these people see in her? Looking at Lucy Blake, she said, "You said we can go anywhere, and travel in time as well?" Lucy nodded sagely, leaning up against the metal railing like it was home. Well, for her it was.

"I don't know if I could pick. There's just so much."

"Tell you what." said the Doctor, "We'll make it random! I always say to Lucy it makes it more fun." As the Doctor messed with the controls, Lucy threw him a doubtful look but then a reassuring one over at Coryn. She motioned for her to come over and silently led her down a hallway, into what looked like her bedroom.

"Lucy, I'm so overwhelmed! I mean, you two just sort of show up in my life and now everything's different! Is that how it happened with you?" Coryn was sitting on Lucy's bed, Lucy, leaning against her armoire.

"Pretty much, yes. I was working as a designer in London and he showed up one day. I was the only one who noticed him, who paid attention to what he was really doing and he invited me to travel with him. It's just like you, actually. You noticed what we were doing on that street in France. You paid attention. I could tell he knew you were different."

"But that's just the thing, I'm not. I'm a waitress back in Alberta. This, and England are the only places I've been outside of Canada in my whole life."

"That's more than some people can say."

"Not you, though. And certainly not him."

"Before I met the Doctor, I'd been on holiday in Greece. That's it. Nowhere else outside the good old U.K." Lucy looked up as she felt the familiar jolt that meant they'd landed. She leaned forward, squeezed Coryn's knee and stood up, not waiting for her to follow as she walked out the door.

"So, where did we end up, Doctor?" Lucy asked, smiling.

"This is Earth's future in 5,000 years. I don't think I've ever been, so it's an adventure for all!" Lucy grinned as she bounded out the door. The Doctor turned to Coryn, sensing that she was frightened. Lucy could manage on her own for a couple minutes.

"I'd understand it if you were scared. I myself don't know what's waiting outside those doors."

"I'm really glad you asked me to come with you…Doctor. It's just, you know, you both are new and-"

"How old are you?"

"Um, I just turned eighteen last month."

The Doctor nodded and looking deep into Coryn's eyes, said, "Happy belated." She only nodded, entranced in those chocolate brown pools. He jerked his head forward, motioning her outside, and the spell was broken.

Outside the T.A.R.D.I.S. Coryn looked round herself. The sky was clear above her, very much liker her own sky, but everything else was as different as could be. Every building looked regulation, no personal touches anywhere. Everything was cold metal and there wasn't a single plant or green thing in sight. The air was cool and actually felt stiff, as though the wind were afraid to blow. Walking alongside the Doctor, Coryn noticed two things: there was no one walking round, at all, and Lucy was also nowhere. The Doctor seemed to be sharing her feelings and was looking about himself as well, searching. "Maybe she's playing a joke on us. Saw that no one was around, made herself scarce." The Doctor shot her a look like even he knew that she didn't believe herself. And now Coryn was starting to get scared. This was her first trip in time, and the one person she felt close to was nowhere to be found. Everything was so unfamiliar! The Doctor made his way inside a building, pushing the revolving door. She followed, timidly and saw that the inside was just as stark as the out. Cold people sat on cold chairs before cold desks in cold rooms. Everyone, men and women wore a nearly shapeless grey uniform, one piece. On each left breast pocket was a letter, followed by a series of three numbers. The woman who looked like the receptionist had T135 across her chest. A man in the same uniform was pushing round a cleaning trolley and Coryn took him to be a janitor. His serial number was Q618. Maybe the farther up in the alphabet you were, the higher your rank was. The Doctor walked up to T135 and said, "'Scuse me, mum, but I've lost my friend and I was wondering if she wandered in here." The woman looked up at him coldly and said, "I can assure you no one has wandered in here. A woman was just brought in because she had not been assimilated. Nor, I see, have you and your other friend. Guards!" And forth came two men that apparently neither Coryn nor the Doctor had noticed. Their numbers were F372 and F373, who took hold of the Doctor and Coryn respectively. They were led down an annex, one that was far too brightly lit for Coryn's taste and then down several flights of stairs. The guard in front pushed open a door to his immediate left and Coryn and the Doctor were guided inside. This room too, was brightly lit and the sight that met Coryn's eyes was both confusing and terrible. A man and woman were standing, waiting for them. Their numbers were A500 and A600. They looked quite cold, disconnected. In front of them were five tables, each the length of a tall man. Strapped to the middle one was Lucy. She was unconscious, strapped at the chest, hips and ankles, the hip straps extending to bind her wrists tight. The Doctor could see a distinct puncture mark on her neck, and thought that was what they'd used to knock her out and drag her away without her screaming and struggling. Why did this kind of thing keep happening? The man, A500, snapped his fingers and the guard holding Coryn swiftly pulled a syringe out of his pocket and jabbed it into her neck before the Doctor could shout, "No!" He braced himself, but no needle met his flesh. He watched, helpless, as the guard, with the help of the A500 man strapped Coryn to the table. "Why haven't you dosed me? What's going to happen to them? Who are you people?"

"We are human." said the woman. Her eyes were as dull as anyone else's, he thought they might once have been green, but now they were the same opaque colour as all these people. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek bun, like all the women's and was dusty brown. "And you are not human." Her cool, measured voice was actually starting to unnerve him. "And you are called…Doctor. A Time Lord. The last of the Time Lords. The lonely god."

"How are you doing this? Stop it, and answer my questions."

"Very well. The human race has started to fall apart. In efforts to preserve it, a man, a scientist created a vaccine. He ensured that any human would instantly be able to detect alien threats. It became mandatory. Once we had everyone vaccinated, it was easy to convince them that they needed order. In order to preserve the human race, they must all be the same. They must let no difference contaminate them."

The Doctor noticed that she herself might be Asian, and the man she was with was black. Apparently race didn't matter as much as species.

"Is that what you've done to my friends? Have you vaccinated them already?"

"No, only put them asleep. It works faster that way, you see. The vaccination will re-educate them. It will be like they are being born again. They will be one with each other and with all of us. The human race, as one."

"And how could you tell that I'm not human, and what I actually am?"

"The vaccine itself. We can see the auras of all beings, and each one has its own colour, texture, taste, smell. Yours is unlike anything we have ever seen. It is so filled with both life and death, light and dark. How can you stand it?"

"I very often can't." the Doctor said darkly. "I've been so alone for so long."

"A vaccination would keep you from ever feeling alone again. If only you were human." At this point, the man stepped up to the Doctor. At first, he didn't say anything, just studied him, walking around him in a circle. "You fascinate us, Doctor." He said. His voice was quite deep, and where the woman's was cool, and almost vacant, his was downright frigid and cruel. The Doctor frowned, knowing that he was in for some trouble. He always was.

"But you can't just go round making everybody the same! You evolve, that's what you do, it's natural!"

"The human race will prevail, Doctor." said the man. "And you can do nothing to stop us."

"Well that's where you're wrong. I can, and I will."

"I wonder." said the man stepping over to the tables that held Lucy and Coryn. "I wonder what you would do. Do you value all life, Doctor? Or only your own?"

"All life." said the Doctor, his voice matching the coolness in the other man's.

"Then what would you do if you had to choose? And you do have to choose. One life over another's. Coryn Lu Reaux's or Lucy Blake's? It is up to you." A500 lowered his head and grinned. On his part, the Doctor resisted the urge to vomit.


	14. Same

The Doctor was reeling. This was sick! What kind of person makes someone choose one life over another like this? He was able to answer himself immediately. The kind of person who has removed his conscience and traded it for the ability to see only what is not like him, that's who. What could he do? He knew he wouldn't be able to save both of them; A500 would not let that happen. He wouldn't condemn Coryn to die because he'd known Lucy longer because he-ah, yes. There it was. There was no denying it now, he loved Lucy. It was not stronger than his love for Rose, or weaker, just different because Lucy herself was different. He cursed himself mentally for falling for her. He knew with his hearts that he couldn't help it, that no one could. Yet, at the same time his stupid brain was chiding him, _you_ should have known better, _you _should have been able to resist, _you _know the consequences that come from this kind of thing. And even armed with the knowledge that he was in love with Lucy, he knew he couldn't deliver Coryn's sentence. He wouldn't.

"No." he said at long last, voice defiant and strong.

A500 raised a single long, thin eyebrow. "No?" he repeated in his deep voice, as though he hadn't heard the Doctor clearly.

"That's right." said the Doctor.

"You won't choose." A500 said it so that it was not a question.

"No, I won't because it doesn't work like that. I have no right to decide who lives and who dies and neither do you, no one does! So I won't choose." He had a plan, only half formulated, but it was all he had. At any rate, he would not be the one who gave the order to kill, no matter what happened. His old self might have done. He thought that if Rose had been strapped to that table, not Lucy; he might have made a real decision. But Lucy had made him realise that that was wrong. She'd made him calmer, made him think just a little bit longer. So he knew he couldn't choose, knew that she wouldn't.

"But surely, Doctor, it is an easy decision to make. Surely you love this one more, this Lucy Blake? You have traveled with her much longer, and have overcome great hardships with her. Is that worth nothing to you?"

"Oh no, it's worth a great deal. But it doesn't make Coryn's life worthless. She's a person; she has a family, a life and as much right to live as Lucy does. All your hierarchies count for nothing, because you're all human in the end. Kings, nobles, janitors, doctors, in the end you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

"You can quote scripture, Doctor, and try to talk your way out of this, but it won't work. Life is filled with decisions, and those who are too weak to make them get left behind. So if you truly won't decide, if you are tired of this game, I will." And now A500 had this fierce look in his eye, and if the Doctor didn't know better, he'd say that he'd gone mad. This man was truly cruel, despite all efforts to equalize; he was going to have his way. All the Doctor could do was watch because he didn't know what A500 planned to do. He watched as A500 beckoned forward his companion. He was pulling out two guns, handing one to A600. While he positioned himself beside Coryn Lu Reaux, A600 moved over to Lucy, both poised and ready to strike. The Doctor saw his ray of hope, like it was actually shining down on him, on Lucy. He knew in that moment that Coryn was going to die and he hated himself for it, despite not having given the order. A500 had the most horrible grin on his face; he was going to get his kill. The Doctor looked over at A600's face and his hope shined on.

"Now!" A500 shouted, and he plugged his gun into Coryn's chest, right into her heart, not fired. The Doctor saw that it was not unlike the gun he had been shot with on New New Earth. Behold evolution, he thought. He looked quickly over at A600 and Lucy. And sure enough, he was right; she had not fired. Her face had betrayed her doubt, the unease she felt at taking innocent lives. He was sure that this was the first time she had shown mercy, her cool voice before had indicated a detachment capable of killing. She looked over at him, and he saw the hint of an apology in her eyes, and that was when A500 made his move. The Doctor knew exactly what was coming, yet again, when he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and spun her round to face him. She looked up at him pleadingly, but the Doctor could have told her that it was no use. She looked up into A500's glaring, hateful eyes, and seemed to draw the same conclusion herself. A500 knocked the gun out of her hand and it spun across the floor, landing not far from the Doctor's feet. A500 pulled his gun out again and plugged it into her neck. She fell to the floor, eyes closing for the last time. A500 looked over at the Doctor, eyes once again filled with manic glee, sociopathic smile plastered onto his dark face. And before he could plug his gun into Lucy's heart, the Doctor was rushing forward, picking up A600's discarded gun and plugging it into A500's heart, just as he had done to Coryn Lu Reaux. A500 was falling, still being half held by the Doctor, who was sinking to the floor with him. And before he could blink out of existence, the Doctor put his hands on either side of A500's head and searched. And there, just before he breathed his last, he caught his name. Andrew Stevens was dead, lying on the floor near the two people he'd killed.

The Doctor threw the gun down to the ground and walked slowly over to Coryn Lu Reaux's body. He saw with rising disgust and sorrow, that her eyes were still open. He thought back to when he and Martha had been on the moon. A plasmavore had just drained the Dean of medicine of all his blood, and Martha had paused to close his eyes. The Doctor had marveled at the scope of human kindness in death. So, taking a leaf out of Martha's book, he reached down and gently closed her eyes, hating himself all the more for bringing her here. He looked over at Lucy, who was still unconscious. His hearts started beating faster and he thought that the sedative she was under should wear off soon. He decided to speed up the process, however, and rushed across the room, to the far left corner. There, he found a cupboard filled with vials and syringes. He selected the one he wanted and walked briskly back over to Lucy Blake. He found a vein in her delicate right arm and shot the adrenaline in, just enough to make her wake up without being too fuzzy. He then undid the straps binding her to the table. He couldn't stand this. A girl was dead because of him. Lots of other people had died on his account, far too many in fact. But this was different. She had been reticent, had trusted him, trusted Lucy to keep her safe. And now she was dead because some sick maniac wanted to test him. He turned round, hands in his pockets, head down and crossed to the far wall, facing the tables that still held Lucy and Coryn. He sank against the wall, feet flat on the floor, elbows on his knees, hands on his head.

Lucy would never want to speak to him again when she found out what had happened. She'd demand to be taken back to London, back to her sister so she could live a normal life and never again have to think of the monster that had screwed everything up. And he wouldn't blame her for it one bit. He'd accept whatever she said or did and would just go on loving her all the more for it. He alternated between closing his eyes against the headache that was creeping up on him and looking over at Lucy's still sleeping form.

Lucy Blake came to with a sudden ferocity. Her eyelids flew open and she was at once alarmed and alert. But she didn't bolt upright just yet; her senses told her to take it easy. The last thing she remembered was waltzing out of the T.A.R.D.I.S., ready and waiting for the Doctor and Coryn to come out. She'd looked round the stark surfaces that met her eyes, more than a little disturbed at the sameness of it all. Where was the life? Why was everything so unfeeling? No answer came to mind, so she turned back to the big blue box, hoping to find the Doctor, and therefore, answers. What she found instead, was a hulking man in a grey uniform, all one piece. He had a tag on that said B029. She was about to ask him where exactly she was and what had happened to the place when he stabbed her in the neck with a syringe. She tried to call out, but something like lead was filling her every nerve and pore. She felt herself falling, but was somehow supported and gave in, quite unwillingly, to the blackness that was consuming her.

Lucy absorbed her surroundings now, too bright light shining down on her. She was lying on a cold table, made of what appeared to be stainless steel, or perhaps aluminum. She moved only her eyes, not her head and, looking to her left saw a terrible sight. Coryn Lu Reaux was dead, she was sure of it. Though her eyes were closed and she looked like she was sleeping, there was no breath, and utter stillness. Lucy's mouth opened and she heard herself gasp. She'd said she was only 18! She could only assume that the people who'd gotten her had gotten Coryn and perhaps the Doctor too. As she thought of him, she heard something stir along the far wall, facing her. She raised herself slowly up, tearing her eyes away from the limp girl's form.

Her eyes met the Doctor's, sitting across the room. He looked older than he ever had before. His eyes were tragic, filled with wisdom, understanding, life and also so much death. His eyes said more than his words ever could. They said that he was sorry, that he blamed himself. Lucy knew the blame was misplaced; no one could be blamed, really. The Doctor had set the T.A.R.D.I.S. to go to a random location, and it had picked this. There was no fault. But Lucy knew, like she knew how to breathe, that he would never forgive himself, and that there were many other crimes he took blame for that weren't really his. She breathed in slowly and flexed various muscles, trying to erase all of the lead that had been in her veins. She looked back over at Coryn and felt her heart break. No matter what the Doctor planned, Lucy would see to it that she personally delivered Coryn's body back to her family. And she felt this stab of loss. This girl had only been her in her life for so short a time, and now she would never get the opportunity to know her, to befriend her, to set something right in her life. She let a single tear escape her eye as she mourned the loss of Coryn's life and her love.

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and looking up saw that it was the Doctor. He sighed as he moved his hand up, wiping away the tear and absently stroking her thin scar once. This simple act of kindness was apparently too much for her and she gave a great shuddering sob. In a flash, the Doctor had picked her up off the table, allowing her to stand, but knowing that she needed support and held her close to him.

The Doctor was surprised to find that Lucy no was no longer crying. But he held her anyway, knowing full well what she was feeling, as he was feeling it himself. He placed his chin on top of her head and felt her arms squeeze tighter around his back. He was grateful when Lucy broke the silence. "Doctor, Doctor we have to take Coryn back to her mum. We can't leave her here, we can't stay here, and we've got to get out now." The Doctor knew she hated this place and quite agreed with her.

"Right you are, Lucy dear. Are you alright?" he then asked, pulling her away from him slightly, but still holding on to her forearms. She only nodded and pulled away from him, walking back over to Coryn's body. He followed her and picked up Coryn.

It didn't take long to make their way out of the building. They both ignored the indignant chaos the waiting room brought them when they carried out a dead girl, neither of them "assimilated." The receptionist had sent off more guards to go check on the room where they had been, and by the time she turned back to order still more guards to hold them back, they were gone.

Inside the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy was sitting beside Coryn, on the floor. She felt drawn to her somehow and didn't want to leave her, for what reason, she didn't know. The Doctor didn't question this either, and perhaps he knew better than she did, for that was often the case. A short while later they were in Alberta, Canada. They had landed in a quiet, sleepy village on a sunny day. They were right behind Coryn's house and were discussing how best to go about the situation.

"Doctor, I'm not leaving her, we owe her mother an explanation, closure."

"The front door then? Are we just going to bring a body in broad daylight to her front door?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

The Doctor was silent, having been beaten. Wordlessly, he got up and once again hoisted Coryn into his arms.

Patrice Lu Reaux opened the door and nearly fainted. On the landing were a man and woman she had never seen before, holding the body of her dead daughter, her only child. As she reeled, the woman dashed forward and held her upright. Without being told, she made her way into the parlour, still holding Patrice up. The man carrying Coryn stepped in as well and put her down on a couch. The woman was setting Patrice down. Was pouring the tea she had made and was handing the cup to her. Patrice took the cup in her shaking hands and sobbed, not knowing what else to do. These two let her for quite a while, not wanting to disturb her. At long last, curiosity overcame her sadness. She thought now that she must be in shock. In a shaking and stammering voice she said, "W-what happened to m-my b-baby?" As said the word baby, she fell to sobbing again and the woman put her arms around her. Patrice didn't want to shove her off. But she still didn't know who she was. The two glanced at each other and the woman spoke in a very quiet, British voice. "Ms. Lu Reaux, we met your daughter in the south of France. She came with us, very far away. Oh, I'm Lucy Blake and this is the Doctor."

"Doctor! Well, why didn't you help Coryn? Couldn't you have saved her?"

"I'm sorry." said the man, also British. "I'm so sorry, but I couldn't. Your daughter was…electrocuted so to speak." Patrice winced and whimpered, and Lucy Blake held her tighter.

"But where were you? Why did she go with you?"

"We were just…very far away." began the man, the Doctor, but Lucy cut him off.

"Ms. Lu Reaux, we were in the future. I know it sound crazy, but we were. And the people there were confused and a little angered by us. Now, I don't remember, because I was unconscious, but they killed your daughter. She came with us because we asked her to. Because we both saw something special and unique in her. We were fascinated by her, and I wish that she hadn't come with us, because then she could be safe with you." Patrice didn't know what to make of this. Were they lying? Her first instincts said yes, but then she looked into the Doctor's eyes and knew that he wasn't, and that neither was Lucy. "Doctor, would you be so kind as to put Coryn upstairs in her bedroom? It's the only door on the left." The Doctor nodded and picked her up and walked silently up the staircase. The two women looked at each other for some time and then Patrice said, out of nowhere seemingly, "You look like him, you know. You two seem almost exactly the same."

"Me and the Doctor?" Patrice nodded and they were silent again, Lucy thinking about what that meant. Her sister had said something like that, she couldn't remember when. Everything in her normal life seemed so long ago, because she no longer had a normal life. She was anything but normal.

"Sorry, but where's the rest of your family?" Lucy asked, unable to keep from noticing that there were no other pictures on the walls besides those of Coryn and Patrice.

"Gone, or non-existent. Coryn was my only child, my parents died long ago. There's her aunt, my sister in France, that's who she was visiting. But her dad skipped out on us before she was born. She used to tell people he was dead, because it hurt her to think that he didn't love us."

"I know exactly what that's like. It's just me and my sister, by way of my family. She's my twin, and we're all each other has." And then Lucy felt this stab of guilt, this time for her sister, because she also had the Doctor, and that was something. By now, the man himself and come back down the stairs and was leaning against the door frame. Patrice beckoned him forward, but he shook his head.

"Will you be alright?" he said to Patrice, "Is there anything either of us can do for you?" Patrice shook her own head gratefully and turned back to Lucy.

'No, I'm just glad, um…just glad to have her home. I can tell everyone that she, that she had a heart attack. She never liked flying; they'll think it was stress." And then she was sobbing again and Lucy had her arms round her and was rocking back and forth with her, crooning comforting remarks.

"Thank you." Said Patrice, in between sobs, "Thank you both for everything you've done. You brought her back to me when you didn't have to, you traveled all this way." Lucy only nodded and looked up at the Doctor. She knew without his saying that he wanted to leave, to move on.

"You're welcome, Ms. Lu Reaux. If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call." And she wrote down her mobile number on a napkin, giving it Patrice, who accepted and smiled weakly by means of thanks.

Back inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. Lucy was telling the Doctor what Ms. Lu Reaux had said to her. "She thinks we're the same?" he said, another idea, another dream, not even half formed in his brain. If he were human, the thought would be sub-conscious, but for him, it was just out of reach, straddling the line between the two. "Well, at any rate, I'm incredibly sorry for what happened, Lucy." He didn't let her butt in, because he knew she would tell him that it wasn't his fault, and even that would hurt too much. "Where to?" he said next. He was still half-expecting her to leave him, to never want to see him again.

"I need to go home, Doctor." He looked up quickly, dreading whatever speech she was about to give him. He knew that he couldn't afford to stay with her, but also that he couldn't bear to be without her. "I need to see Juliet, just real quick, before we set off again." And the Doctor felt his hearts warmer than they had been in so long a time. And before he went to set the controls, he walked over and caught her in a fierce hug, reveling in her, needing only her and his T.A.R.D.I.S.

Lucy was surprised, but hugged the Doctor back, all too willingly as she accepted what she secretly had known for a while now. She'd fallen for him. No doubt about it, she loved him more than the sun.


	15. Show

Bounding from the T.A.R.D.I.S. like a bat out of Hell, Lucy Blake crashed into the door of the flat she shared with her twin sister. Luckily, Juliet had forgotten once again to lock the oak front door which came open upon Lucy's violent shouldering of it. Juliet had heard the noise and came hurrying into their small foyer, her face a mask of concern. Wasting no words, Lucy rushed over and enveloped her twin in a tight embrace. Lucy was not one for wanton displays of emotion; she was controlled in her compassion. Juliet looked over her twin's shoulder and saw the man she traveled with, the Doctor. He looked quite forlorn, like something had gone horribly wrong and he was to blame. Juliet could feel the anger rising in her. She had accepted Lucy's convictions after she'd "fallen out of a window", or whatever it was she insisted. Lucy had said that while her life was often occupied with danger, it did not rule it. But Juliet knew now that something had changed inside Lucy, because there was no way her sister was crying into her shoulder. No, it had always been the other way round with these two. Glaring at the well dressed man before her, Juliet pried Lucy away from her.

"Lucy, what's happened? Where did you go, what's wrong?" Juliet tried to make sure her voice was level, calm. It was her turn to be there for her sister, just like when she'd given her blood. Lucy took a moment to regain her famous composure. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, focusing. Now that Juliet actually had a moment to look at her, she found that she almost didn't recognize her. There was the scar from her "window" accident. But there was something else; evidence of a recently broken and healed nose. There were also faint discolourations round her wrists, like there were tiny, almost invisible scars there too. However, the biggest change of all was the way she stood, the way she looked at Juliet. And Juliet was now looking back and forth, from Lucy to the Doctor. There it was. She looked like him. Somehow, she looked like he did, that measured, careful stare, like she knew everything there was to know and yet still craved more. At long last, Lucy seemed to finish. "We went several places since I last saw you, Jules. Ireland for one, round the 1800's. Um, we also went to the future and met an old friend of the Doctor's. Then we went to the really far future, this place called New Earth."

"Lucy, is that really necessary, we don't need to tell her about all that." The Doctor cut in.

"Like Hell, she doesn't! She's my sister and I deserve to know where she's been and why she's been hurt!" Juliet said, pained. Lucy held up her hands for silence and the two behind and in front of her quieted.

"Doctor, I'm not going to go over every single detail, but she is right, she does deserve to know what's been going on, and at any rate, I promised I would. So anyway, on this new planet, well, I got kidnapped. These people thought I was a terrorist or something and well, let's just say it was shades of the Inquisition. But we got away, and we actually sort of helped to overthrow a tyrannical government. Then we went to a different future with this girl, it was just random this destination. And the people there were even worse than the ones on New Earth, I think, just from what the Doctor's told me." Lucy looked back at him, at the most wonderful man in the universe. He hadn't told her the whole story, she knew that. She still wasn't sure exactly how Coryn had died, or why. The Doctor had refused to talk about that day, except to say that it was one of the worst of his long life. Lucy knew enough about him to leave it at that. She turned back to her sister. "Anyway, er, the girl we were traveling with, Coryn her name was. And, er, she died. Those people killed her. And I just, just wanted to come see you before we left off again. You know, you said to keep you posted." Lucy almost laughed when she thought of how she'd picked up Coryn's favourite phrase, "you know?" Even her mother had said it. But then she thought of the young girl, lying still, utterly motionless on that cold table, dead, and Lucy couldn't laugh anymore. Juliet was tilting her head to one side, biting her lip and looking down, the twin's shared trait of consternation, of frustration, of contemplation. Lucy let Juliet think for a while; it was a lot to take in. After a while, Juliet sighed and stepped forward again, holding her arms out wide. Lucy stepped into them and she and her sister once again held each other tight. Lucy was grateful that the Doctor let them be. He began walking round their flat, not really engrossed in anything, still within earshot of the twins.

Eventually, Lucy decided enough was enough and pulled away from her sister. They smiled at each other, practised, knowing smiles. They'd been through so much together. The Juliet gasped, "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly. Lucy frowned and the Doctor stepped forward, ready to take action. "Wait, but, you two can't leave yet, I almost forgot!"

"Juliet, what is it?"

"Lucy, Mr. Thorough has been looking at collections over the past couple of weeks. Oh, he picked yours to be in London fashion week! I had to tell him that you were ill, and that's why you couldn't see him in person. But Lucy, it's tonight, I've been trying and trying to get hold of you on your mobile!" Lucy frowned, pulling out the device. Indeed, she had about twelve text messages and eight phone calls and as many voice messages waiting for her. Oh, Juliet, she thought. Lucy rolled her eyes and said,

"Tonight? It's tonight?" Juliet nodded, pressing her lips together, looking quite sheepish. Lucy turned round to the Doctor and said, "Well, do you fancy a fashion show tonight?"

The Doctor was tugging at the cuff-links of his double-breasted thoroughly black tuxedo. He had been like this the entire walk from the T.A.R.D.I.S. to the tents of London fashion week. It was already early March and unseasonably warm. Lucy's collection, being presented on behalf of Thorough Threads Inc, was going to take place in the main tent. Several British and American celebrities were rumoured to be there, but Lucy didn't care about that. She wanted the Doctor to see what she'd been working on for months prior to meeting him. Lucy took one step ahead of him, placing herself directly in front of him. He frowned down at her and said, "I look ridiculous, don't I?"

"Impossible." She replied. She reached up to straighten his tie and looked over his shoulder to see Juliet finally catching up with the two of them. Running, or even walking briskly as they were doing, was strictly out of her repertoire. She stepped up to the Doctor's shoulder, eyeing him keenly. "He cleans up nice, don't he?" she jabbed at Lucy, who only smiled in return. Without another word, Lucy led the way forward and showed her twin sister and the Doctor to their seats; front row for family and friends. She rushed backstage to ensure that the models all looked spectacular. Having always been a short girl, Lucy at first didn't realise how astoundingly tall all these models were. The shortest one there was six feet! She shook her head, writing it off as the height (no pun intended) of superficiality. She adjusted a few garments here and there, offered a few make-up and hair tips to the various artists and finally pronounced everyone ready. She could feel the models' eyes on her every second. Whatever for? Did they hate her collection that much? Did they love it? Lucy stood at the front of the line, ready to go out and announce the fruit of her labours when she noticed it. The models all had one silver eye. She looked at each and every one of them to make sure, and sure enough, each right eye was like true silver. That was no fashion statement. Nowhere in all of her notes about this collection had she written, _Oh, I'd like all the models to have silver right eyes. Just stick some contact lenses in them; I think it'll really enhance the mood of the performance. _Lucy shook her head, disbelieving. No make-up artist would take it upon himself to alter the designer's wishes. And even if he had, surely he would notice that her collection consisted mainly of gold, champagne, black and turquoise, not a hint of silver anywhere! Lucy told herself to take calming breaths, to ask the make-up people about it later, because they were calling her name now and there was no time left.

Lucy Blake stepped out of the curtain that separated the backstage from the runway. The Doctor looked up at her from his chair and couldn't help noticing how stressed she looked. He was sure that no one else would notice because she was so adept at hiding her feelings when she wanted to, but he was clever. He cast a glance at Juliet and saw that she too was frowning at her sister's expression. But of course she would notice; they were identical twins. He looked round himself and saw everyone else's smiling faces, no hint of concern for the harrowed designer. He whipped back round to Lucy, who presently started speaking. "I came to Mr. Thorough years ago with a collection I'd made completely by myself with about 8,000 pounds total. I was utterly shocked when he liked what he saw, and am still utterly shocked and completely flattered and humbled to be standing here now. I've been a million places over the past few months and it's good to be home, and to be here with all of you lovely people. So, without any further ado, I dedicate this show to my twin and bid the rest of you to enjoy it thoroughly." She offered a wave and a wink to the audience and the Doctor smiled, admiring the way she walked in those heels. The black patent leather stilettos were hardly the best thing about her ensemble however. She looked the spitting image of a 1940's Hollywood actress. Her high-wasted pencil skirt had white buttons that fastened it and she wore a black pin-striped vest over a dark grey three-quarter sleeved shirt. She'd admitted to the Doctor that she'd made it herself, and he later wondered why she hadn't featured it in her collection. Her hair was all done up in a tight chignon, with mother-of-pearl clips holding it all the way round. He looked for her coming back to her seat, but Juliet leaned toward him and informed him that she waited backstage and would walk out with the models at the very end.

The first model that came out was dressed in a chiffon champagne empire waist dress with several layers of tulle underneath. The sleeves and bodice were black velvet and she wore a cap of black velvet with black, gold and turquoise feathers coming out of it, Robin Hood style. The Doctor noted that she had a curious right eye, yes it was silver. He smiled as she turned back and then looked expectantly for the next one. She was wearing a black cocktail dress that had a corset-style bodice threaded and accented with champagne silk. Her shawl was a shimmering gold material the Doctor couldn't name. He frowned as she got closer to him. She too had a silver right eye. This one looked down at him and her lip curled upon seeing him. It was the most flickering of images and then she had turned round again and was stomping up the runway. The Doctor didn't even pay attention to the rest of the models save their eyes and their strange behavior. Each one had a silver right eye and each one moved in a slightly robotic fashion. At first the Doctor couldn't tell if this was affected, a part of the show, but he was sure that the angular turns and sharp movements were not intended in Lucy's elegant collection. No doubt, this was what had Lucy worried. No doubt, she too had noticed their peculiarities. The show lasted only five minutes and there was Lucy at the back of the line applauding with everyone else. Many had leapt to their feet and the Doctor saw that Lucy managed to look appreciative and humbled at the same time, shoving her anxiety to the back of her mind. She rushed to the Doctor and Juliet as soon as she could. Juliet made to step in front of the Doctor and intercept her, but Lucy side-stepped her at her rapid pace and nearly skidded into the closest guest. The Doctor grabbed her elbow, pulling her safely toward him.

"Did you notice it too, Doctor? Did you see how queer they all are?"

"Lucy, what are you talking about? That was brilliant, it was, you were phenomenal, and so were they!" chimed in Juliet. She was still a bit indignant at being ignored by Lucy. Lucy in turn threw a pained glance at her sister and then hurriedly turned back to the Doctor. "Yes, I noticed it. And I think I know what they are. Come with me." He led the way to the backstage area of Lucy's fashion show. Juliet was still miffed, but her mouth hung open upon discovering what lat before them.

Crouching behind the curtain, the three could see everything without being seen. Juliet looked like she was about to be sick, and Lucy and the Doctor were twin masks of terror. On the ground before them were the three hairstylists and the five make-up artists, dead. The models were all standing around, seeming to be debating something. But they didn't look like models anymore. They had stowed away Lucy's collection, back on the racks they were transported on. Lucy would have thought they were naked except for the steel and scale like material covering them. No, maybe that wasn't material…maybe that was true form! Looking closer, she saw that their legs, arms and parts of their faces (the forehead, cheekbones and jaw line) were covered in greenish-silver scales. Their torsos and necks were covered in ribbed steel. Lucy could also see, from the ones that had their backs to her, that they had ridges on their backs, like their spines were sticking out. Each ridge looked bone-hard in fact and Lucy was sure that she would never want to come in contact with. The nearest lizard-soldier-model lifted an arm of one of the male hairstylists. She sniffed it and pulled back her lips to reveal sharpened teeth. She was about to bite down when someone entered the vicinity. It was Mr. Thorough and he was holding a bottle of champagne, looking like he wanted to celebrate. The sight that met him caused him to drop the unopened bottle, which then shattered on the floor. "W-who are you? What have you done with-? Good God, what's g-going on here? Where is M-miss Blake?" Simultaneously, the lizard models titled their heads to the right, staring at him as though intrigued. The tallest one advanced toward him as he started to back away. A slightly shorter one stepped behind him and pinned his arms to his side. Mr. Thorough's eyes widened in fear as the tall one continued to approach him. She reached up and with a mad grin, twisted his neck which gave a sickening snap, and he then went slack. Juliet clapped a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out and Lucy grimaced. Though not always on the best terms with her boss, this was in no way the end she envisioned for him. Lucy was sure that the goal here was food and also sure that the nine dead people would not sate the eighteen beasts. Trying not to think of them "sharing" Lucy nudged the Doctor, silently urging him to do something.

The Doctor stepped out from behind the curtain, sonic screwdriver at the ready, prodded by Lucy whom he could feel behind him. He heard slight whimperings from Juliet, who looked about ready to turn tail. "Stop!" he cried, holding the screwdriver aloft, not knowing whether or not they knew him and that this was not a weapon. The tallest one stepped forward and curled her lip the same way she had done during the show. "A man dares command me? Do I have that right?" And the Doctor's suspicions were confirmed.

"Amazonites." He announced as much to Lucy and Juliet as to no one in particular. Lucy vaguely remembered the Doctor rattling them off on a list of aliens he'd once met but had never tangled with. She quickly explained to Juliet that they were part lizard, part woman and were much like the legendary Amazons on Earth, save for their cannibalistic tendencies. The tallest Amazonite curled her lip again in response. "But you're a long way from home, aren't you? Has your planet already run out of men to feed on?"

"Our appetites crave more exotic flavours." One of the Amazonites offered. The queen as the Doctor took her to be, batted the one who had spoken away with a wave of her enormous hand.

"This one is smarter than the average male. I was overthrown by a rebel party of Amazonites. Tyranny has its setbacks and rebellion is one of them. Those who remain loyal to me travel with me. We hoped to traverse many distances and gain the strength of unknown races. It appears we made a mistake coming to this planet. Those who are not over-fed are scrawny weaklings, none of whom will aide us in our quest." She gestured first to the rotund Mr. Thorough and then to the skinny-jean wearing hair and make-up stylists.

"But there are three women here. Surely you weren't going to eat them?" asked Lucy, sensing that the Amazonites would soon grow tired of talking to a man.

"No, we weren't, Earth girl, but we also could not leave them alive. They are pathetic excuses for women, as are you. You allow men to rule in your stead but are not fit for eating."

Lucy opened her mouth, about to protest when the Doctor stopped her. He shook his head, advising her not to contest the testy queen. But it was Juliet who acted. She had been silent and almost perfectly still the whole while. She had been slowly edging her way to the exit, where all present thought she would surely make a run for it. Instead, she grabbed the fire-extinguisher off the floor and aimed it at the queen, letting fly the frigid foam. The queen shrieked and shivered and slowly slumped to the floor, unmoving. The other Amazonites were standing stock still in fear and confusion. This tiny Earth girl had taken down their queen? One right after another turned and bolted out of the back flap of the tent and into the unusually warm night. Lucy, Juliet and the Doctor were quick to follow them and just barely caught them escaping in a ship that bolted out into the sky. Onlookers would mistake it for a green-tinted falling star.

The Doctor whipped round to face Juliet, still not sure if he was angry or relieved. "What did you do?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice level.

"Lucy was saying that they were part lizard. I couldn't exactly see a way out of this, especially one that didn't involve you getting eaten and so it just clicked. Lizards are cold-blooded. I'm sure they were hanging round here because of how warm it is. And then I remembered that fire extinguishers are quite cold and I just, I dunno, I just fired. I didn't really expect it to work." The Doctor stared open-mouthed at Juliet for a while. How like her sister she was proving to be. Had he once thought her dull? No, not dull, impossible being Lucy's twin, but certainly not capable of the cleverness that Lucy so often exuded. He stepped toward her and she flinched as he wrapped her up in a tight hug. Lucy was laughing, still half-amazed at the whole situation. When the Doctor let go of Juliet, Lucy rushed over and squeezed her tight, rocking back and forth like they had done this afternoon. The twins let go of each other and looked up into the night sky, holding hands and smiling curious smiles.

"So, ladies," the Doctor said, hands in his pockets, rocking back on forth on his trainers, "How does an after party sound? A little celebration for an expertly crafted collection and a clever dispatching of a hostile alien troupe?" The girls laughed and the Doctor looked back and forth between them. Despite Juliet's own spark, despite their shared dark past, despite everything, it had never been easier to tell them apart. Lucy's eyes were infinitely deep and even when smiling, a bit sad. He couldn't even see her scar in the dark, but there was something about the set of her jaw that suggested battle and gritty resolution. Juliet's smile was easier, more carefree. Her entire being was less tried than Lucy's. The Doctor looked again at Lucy's face, loving her reluctant smile, all the while hating the fact that he had helped cause this cynicism. Sure, it had always been there, she had always been the more thoughtful of the two. But there was no denying his part in her, what could it be called? Callousness? No, never, callousness, not Lucy. Perhaps it was whatever made up the parts of he himself? But Lucy's grit was different from Martha's soldier-like discipline. Lucy's wisdom was different from Donna's brief experience as a Time Lord-human hybrid. Lucy's unyielding desire to help was different from Rose's compassion. And what was it everyone kept saying? That she was designed to survive? The idea he'd had before leaving the most recent trip to the future solidified just a little bit more. Almost no time had passed and Lucy said, "I've got a better idea. Juliet, I'd like to introduce you to the stars." Juliet grinned at her sister and then at the Doctor who nodded. The girls were practically skipping behind him as he led the way back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.


	16. Omen

Juliet was positively giddy with excitement at her first inter-stellar journey. The very first time Lucy had mentioned being able to ride on the currents of the Aurora Borealis, she knew she wanted to try. "You don't mind going again, do you, Lucy? Doctor?" Lucy laughed and said,

"Jules, that's not exactly something you get tired of. What do you say, Doctor?" He only smiled wryly and wordlessly set the controls. Lucy would probably never know how he did it, but in a matter of seconds, he gestured toward the doors of the ship. "Go on then, they're out there waiting for you." he said. Lucy grinned and started leading her twin toward the ship, but Juliet was standing still and soon, Lucy had to stop short or trip, or possibly injure her sister. "Go on then, Jules. The Doctor said we're there. Have you changed your mind?"

"No, it's just…that's space out there. You can't open the doors and expect to be safe, it's a vacuum!"

"The T.A.R.D.I.S. protects us, Jules. Come on, I'll show you." And without further ado, Lucy stepped to the threshold of the beloved vessel and opened the doors. She breathed in the air like it was a brisk fall morning that she was relishing. She turned back to Juliet and smiled widely, miming like she was going to jump out. Finally, the never before cautious Juliet scampered to Lucy's side and breathed in with her.

Juliet looked down at the multi-coloured waves, undulating like they were under the sea instead of over the Earth. "You're right, Lucy. It's brilliant, it's absolutely smashing." Lucy smiled and simultaneously, the sisters put their arms round each other. The Doctor looked at them, only able to tell them apart from the back by their clothes, and the slightly straighter way Lucy stood. She looked like she was poised, coiled and ready to spring at any moment. Juliet's stance suggested ease, readiness, a malleable quality that her sister possessed as well, but apparently chose not to showcase.

They had only left Earth and the grisly sight at the London fashion week tent hours ago. Juliet had insisted on being taken home to pack a few things. She wasn't sure if she was staying on as a permanent guest yet. Something about the way the Doctor looked at Lucy made her want to stay. It was the same that made her want to leave when she saw how Lucy in turn looked at the Doctor. She wasn't sure how she felt about this; he was an alien, for Christ's sake! But Lucy trusted him, and that was saying something. For almost their whole lives, they'd only been able to count on one another. And now Lucy had someone else, and Juliet was happy for her. Well…mostly. She did feel that pang of jealousy she knew was unjust. Lucy had never asked for anyone else, had denied needing anyone at all more vehemently than Juliet herself. Juliet had been able to sense from the beginning that Lucy's now ex-boyfriend, James, was bad news. When he'd started displaying qualities not unlike their father's, Lucy had turned to Juliet, and Juliet had helped her. That was one of the few times in life that Juliet had needed to comfort and guide her twin. Usually, like when Juliet was out of money, or thinking particularly long about their mother, it was Lucy who did the consoling. It was Lucy who had encouraged Juliet to go to Mumbai to help with hunger relief, all the while cautioning her and giving her sage advice.

Now it seemed that Lucy had someone else, someone other-worldly to go to for advice. The Doctor had remained in the T.A.R.D.I.S. while Juliet was gathering her things and so she and Lucy had gotten a chance to speak. Lucy told her more of what happened on New Earth, since she'd asked.

"I can't ignore your injuries, Lucy! It was bad enough when I had to give you blood because you fell out of a window, which I know isn't true, by the way." Juliet had said.

"I just…don't know that I'm ready to talk about it." Lucy had tried to deflect her.

"Lucy, I deserve to know, you told me that you'd never lie, never keep secrets. All those years ago you told me and now this?" Juliet would not be deflected. Lucy sighed, running a hand over her face. Peering closer, Juliet indeed saw that there were teeny tiny scars around her wrists, barely visible at all, except in certain lights.

"All right." she'd said at last. "I was kidnapped by these people called the Alliance of the Sun. They had information, I dunno, implanted into people, and obviously I didn't. They shot the Doctor and when I woke up I was in this dungeon type room, only it wasn't a dungeon, 'cause there was a window. Anyway, I met this girl, Cara Small and she told me all about them. They thought we were terrorists or something and they took me into this other room…and they tried to torture me into talking."

Juliet clapped a hand to her mouth, her eyes already misting over. She made as if to hold her sister to comfort her, but apparently, Lucy didn't need it. She went on. "They, they broke my nose, and put out a fag on my arm and tried to starve me. I never said a word, almost the whole time. But then this guard came and took Cara away and he brought her back just in time for me to watch her die." And now Lucy did start crying, but she wouldn't go to her sister. It appeared as though she was holding herself up only by the hand gripping the bed post. Her knuckles had turned white. She told her twin of how she'd ripped her hands out of her bonds and killed the guard. And then she had to stop for a moment, because she reeled and looked like she was about to be sick. This time, she did let her sister run to her and Juliet held her, the two of them sitting on the floor. Lucy told Juliet everything that had happened from New Earth until they'd arrived back on old Earth, back in the present. When she finished, both girls were crying and Juliet was stroking her sister's hair, cooing soft reassurances to her.

Juliet snapped out of her reverie and once again took in the beauty of the Auroras. She reached up and gave Lucy's hand a squeeze and the two of them stepped back from the edge and sighed. The Doctor was already walking up to them, and sidestepping so as not to spilt them up, he reached round and closed the doors. "So what did you think, ma petit soeur?"

"I'm not exactly your little sister. You're only older by five minutes. And at any rate, I thought it was perfect." Lucy and the Doctor both smiled at her.

"So," said the Doctor, "Where are we going next?" Lucy shook her head and looked at Juliet. Juliet in turn looked her sister in the eyes, her eyes, and thought.

"I want to go some place mysterious. Mumbai is one thing, but extra-terrestrial adventure is quite another!"

The Doctor and Lucy exchanged exasperated glances. Lucy had had enough adventure to last more than her whole lifetime, and the Doctor, over one hundred times as much, probably. Lucy sighed, and said, all the while looking at the Doctor, at the man she'd fallen in love with, "In the morning, twin."

The jackals were circling in on her, bloodthirsty and dripping saliva, snarling their hunger. Lucy found that she could not back away, because now they were behind her too, twelve in all, trapping her, leaving her defenseless. Where was the Doctor? Why had he left her? The jackal that appeared to be the leader crouched lower and gave a growl that sent shivers down Lucy's spine. He was pulling his lips back over his teeth, which were pointed and had old stains on them looking horribly like blood. He leaped at her and she flinched, closing her eyes, ready to die, ready to feel his teeth tearing into her flesh. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes. The jackal jumped again, and this time she watched what happened. He leaped for her throat but when he got about six inches from her he stopped and fell short, as if held back by an invisible force-field. She stared at the jackals all pacing back and forth, perplexed and angry. But now her vision was blurring and something was shimmering and shining in front of her. Was that…? Yes, it was an angel! But that made no sense; Lucy had long since given up on religion. And then she saw that it was not an angel. No wings, no halo, no whimsical harp. It was however, an ethereal vision of her mother. She was dressed, not in a flowing dress of gossamer, but in the hospital gown she had died in. And there were the many scars and signs of her difficult life. Emmaline was smiling though, and that was all Lucy needed. She held her arms out, as if to embrace her and said, "My sweet, sweet child. I'm so proud of the person you've become. And I can only imagine what you still have to accomplish. The Doctor has been teaching you well."

"But how can you know about that, mum?"

"Lucy, dear, I know more than you can guess. You have already been told several times that you were born to survive. You've lived through things no ordinary person would, and you've become better and wiser for all that." Lucy didn't know about that, but listened patiently to her mother's soothing voice, her sweet, even cadence. "You have even more trials to go through, and before long you will face your greatest adventure yet. But know that at all costs, you can survive."

"So, what, I'm immortal?"

"No, Lucy, you're not immortal. But you do have an innate gift that protects you, or more accurately, that gives you the power and the tools to protect yourself. I have to go now, dear, but the Doctor is waiting for you." And without another word, without waiting even for Lucy to say goodbye, Emmaline faded away. Lucy was left back in the company of the famished jackals. She braced herself for whatever was coming; her mother had said that she could survive. The lead jackal tensed again, coiled muscle quivering in anticipation and then he leaped. But this time, no force-field held him back and Lucy could feel his hot breath on her neck and face as his weight forced her to the ground. He bared his teeth to her again and just as he was about to sink them in-

Lucy was roused roughly by her sister. Lucy blinked up at her, not quite comprehending. At last, she seemed to remember the circumstances in which Juliet had come to be on the T.A.R.D.I.S. and that she had been dreaming of jackals and Emmaline. What had it meant that Emmaline had said that she had the tools to survive, but when she left, Lucy had been taken down, about to be devoured? What was she missing? Was this an omen that she would survive more than was ordinary, but that one day would come something that even she could not withstand? She shoved these and more questions out of her mind, as she was no longer able to drown out her twin by sheer force of will.

"Lucy, come on, I've decided where I want to go! Get up, twin, get up!" Juliet was never patient and today was no exception. Lucy waved her away with a groan and a flippant wave of her hand. Juliet rushed out, rolling her eyes, and Lucy ran a hand through her hair, finally sitting up. Maybe she'd ask the Doctor about her dream.

For now, she pushed the covers away and quickly showered and dressed, not wanting to invoke Juliet's wrath. Lucy emerged from her room wearing something that could cover many of Juliet's ranging interests. She had on light khaki trousers, and an angora off-the-shoulder grey sweater. She had swept her hair back into a lose bun that fell out in some places. She smiled at her sister's rapt face; she was practically glowing. "Go on then, tell me where we're going." She said, trying to sound chipper after her troublesome dream.

"The Black Forest." Juliet announced, beaming. Lucy blinked, not understanding.

"T-the Black Forest? Like, in Germany?"

"Yes! Isn't it brilliant?"

Lucy leaned in to the Doctor who had come to stand beside her. "All of time and space to pick from and she wants to traipse round the woods?" The Doctor chuckled and Juliet hit her sister playfully on the shoulder. "Lucy, you know I'd never be able to pick from all of that. There's just too much. So this is a place I've always wanted to go and now I have the opportunity. Come on, twin, let's go to Germany." Lucy grinned, always appreciative of her sister's quirks, and newly appreciative of her practicality. "What are we waiting for then, Doctor? It's off to the Black Forest we go."

Minutes later, the twins and the Doctor were walking into Germany's most famous forest in the early morning sun. The air was crisp and birds could be heard chirping high above them. The Doctor was walking slightly ahead of the girls, hands as always, in his pockets and looking around, excited. As they walked he rattled off a few facts at a rapid pace. "120 km long, 60 km wide, the Black Forest is home to horses, cows and giant earthworms and is bordered by the Rhine Valley to the West and South. We are closest to the Danube River as well as several of the medieval mines. Welcome, ladies, welcome indeed." Juliet and Lucy smiled, Lucy running ahead like a small child. Just as the Doctor had mentioned mines, she had spotted the opening to one.

It was partially caved in, sandstone falling in random places and covered in layers of dust. The entrance was about fifteen feet tall and standing in front of it, she could feel the dank air emanating from it. It was cooler than the air surrounding her, and in certain light, she could see the dust particles floating about her. It smelled slightly stale and soon she got a foreboding feeling that grew stronger the longer she stood there. Her unease was soothed a little when she felt the Doctor standing beside her. They were shoulder to shoulder, his head angled toward her. "Did you find something, Lucy?" She looked up at him, unsure. Her brow furrowed and she bit her lip. At that moment, Juliet strode up and saw her sister's face. "Lucy the Thinker, eh? Rodin would be proud." But when Lucy did not echo Juliet's smile, she too furrowed her brow. "What, is it that mine? What about it, Lucy?"

Lucy shook her head, still not sure what to make of it. "I dunno, really. I felt the air, which isn't so strange by itself, but then there's the dust, it's not like normal dust you can see in the light. And, and I just got this, this feeling. Like I'm forgetting something really important, or like I know something bad is about to happen, but I don't know what it is or how to stop it." The Doctor frowned, and Lucy thought that he could feel it too, that tugging sensation at the back of his mind. His deep eyes that she held so dear searched the immediate area. They then lingered on the dust coming out of the mine entrance. And then his eyes grew wide, his mouth falling half open. He didn't even pause to tell them what was going on; he just walked straight into the mouth of the mine. He held an arm in front of him, angled, like he could use it as a shield. Lucy and Juliet traded worried glances and then followed him in; he hadn't forbidden it. They walked in utter silence for about five minutes, traveling the ill-formed pathways, their only source of light, the Doctor's illuminated sonic screwdriver. At long last, he stopped walking and looked up at the high ceiling. The twins saw more dust than ever. That was strange; it shouldn't be there at all. "Doctor?" Lucy asked, voice sounding more timid than she would have liked. "What's going on? What is all this?" The Doctor looked down at her and said,

"They're Somnium Parasites. Dream Parasites, to translate. They get inside your head and plant images there. They can show you anything they like. They can make you realise your darkest fears, relive your worst moments, anything."

"So shouldn't we get out?" This came from Juliet, who was already tugging at Lucy's sleeve.

"Yes, yes we should. Because they're awake. And they've been without a brain to feed on for a very long time."

"Feed on!" Lucy hissed, "What happens to you after they get inside your head? How do you get them back out?"

"You just have to wake up." Lucy stared at the Doctor, puzzled. That didn't seem so hard. Lucy looked up again and saw that the dust, the Somnium Parasites were moving. They seemed to be searching, reaching. The Doctor looked up and saw it too.

"Run!" he shouted and he darted forward, grabbing Lucy's hand as he did. Juliet had already cut in front of them and was now leading the way out. Lucy looked behind her and saw the Somnium Parasites were gaining on them.

"Go faster, go faster!" she shrieked, and the Doctor picked up the pace. But Lucy knew it was already too late. Her world slowed down as they closed in on her and she squeezed the Doctor's hand in terror. She vaguely heard Juliet shouting, already out of the mine, sounding farther away than she really was. And just as daylight was beginning to hit her face again, a small cloud of dust seemed to lunge at her before she fully reached the outside world and then she saw nothing and felt nothing and accepted her fate, fading into blackness.


	17. Dreams

The mirror was fogged and cracked in a few places. Its ornate frame, once illustrious gold was now rusted, lost to wear and time. Something stirred behind it that frightened Lucy. But what appeared on the other side of the mirror was not the horrifying girl she had met in Wales, nor her own reflection. Instead she saw a mask, one designed to cover the whole face save the eyes. These spaces were empty, the nothingness somehow conscious and staring back at her. The mask itself was as careworn as the mirror. Its silver and gold filigree was flaking, exposing faded white porcelain. The mask enlarged, or was it drawing closer? It expanded beyond the boundaries of the mirror and disappeared. Left in its place was a snarling jackal which quickly disappeared. Lucy could feel her ears ringing now and she recognized the shriek of the banshee. The mirror showed her every villain she had ever faced, from her father to her nightmares from childhood, from the leader of the Krillitanes, to the queen of the Lunabelsey, from the Alliance of the Sun, to the nagging regret she'd felt at not leaping at things and taking chances like Juliet did. They all flashed before her eyes, all the while the banshee's scream echoed in her ears. Lucy remembered what the Doctor had said, that to escape them, all she had to do was wake up. So if she knew she was dreaming, that the Somnium Parasites were causing this, she could control the outcome. She lashed out and smashed the mirror with her fists and it exploded in tiny shards all around her. But instead of waking up, Lucy was staring at her own bleeding arms, the glittering pieces of the mirror surrounding her.

Lucy looked up when she heard the laughter. It came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It was inside her and it was far away. At last, she saw the Queen of Hearts walking towards her, laughing all the while. She was swinging round a flamingo and followed by the disembodied smile of the Cheshire Cat. The White Rabbit hopped in front of them and the queen grew outraged. She swept the flamingo at him and took off his head in a scene of bloodless violence. Lucy briefly registered her childhood obsession with _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _and_ Through the Looking Glass._ In the end of the first book, Alice awoke to find that she'd dreamt the whole thing. Lucy tried to do the same now, envisioned herself in the clearing in the Black Forest, the Doctor and Juliet looking worriedly over her. But when Lucy opened her eyes, it was to find the now disembodied head of the Cheshire Cat. He shook said head at her and said, "I'm afraid it won't be that easy, Miss Blake. It won't be that easy at all." And then he disappeared and Lucy was falling through blackness, down the proverbial rabbit hole.

She found herself now in a recurring nightmare she'd had since the incident with the mirror. Several nights a week, Lucy awoke in a cold sweat at the lingering feeling it left her. On one occasion, Lucy had actually screamed aloud and the Doctor had run into her room and held her, neither of them saying a word. He knew better than to press her with questions and she couldn't bring herself to speak of the dream. But she'd found immeasurable comfort in his arms and had almost been grateful to the dream for making the Doctor come to her and console her. But there was no Doctor now to rouse her from this.

Lucy was in her old home, the one she'd lived in as a child. And someone was trying to get in. Someone was trying to get _her. _She began running around the place, locking every door and securing every window. There was more of each in the dream-house than there were in Lucy's actual childhood abode. And every time Lucy bolted a window or turned the lock on a door, she knew, she just knew that whatever wanted her had almost gotten in. Finally, there was only one door left. But it was at the very end of a very long hallway that didn't actually exist in the real house. Everything was red. The carpet, red; the paint, red, the ceiling, red; the dim lighting, red. And every few inches along the wall were small mirrors, perfectly level to reflect from Lucy's shoulders up. The mirrors were old and flaking, just like the one in her very first Parasite-dream. Lucy was racing now to get to the last door. She had only ten paces left, five, four, three. And then, just before she could reach it, she saw the knob turn.

The Doctor was trying to hold Lucy down as she screamed, whatever the Somnium Parasites were showing her, finally loosening her tongue. Juliet rushed over from her seat on the chaise in Lucy's room. She shoved the Doctor out of her way and held her twin in her arms, softly singing the lullaby their mother had crooned to them so long ago. "Please wake up, Lucy, please wake up." She rocked her back and forth, but Lucy remained as lethargic as ever. Juliet laid her back down and bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears.

"She's got to do it on her own." The Doctor said. "The Somnium Parasites are in her head and she can't hear us; it's like she's really sleeping." Juliet ignored him, and kept her back to him so that he could not see her cry.

They had left the Black Forest immediately after Lucy had collapsed. The Doctor had swiftly picked her up and they'd rushed all the way back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. "Won't the parasites follow us?" Juliet had asked, panicked.

"No, they can't last long in the open air. They require darkness to thrive and only go out to the outside to die, or if they're really desperate, like with Lucy."

"Is she going to be alright when she wakes up? I mean, she'll still be-"

"She'll be fine. The waking up is the hard part." Juliet had swallowed hard at that point, not liking the sound of that. They'd finally made it back to his ship and promptly deposited Lucy in her own room, on her own bed.

"Where do they come from, Doctor?" she'd asked.

"Oh, well, they're as old as this galaxy. They floated down with the makings of the Earth and are as much a part of it as the ground you stand on, as the air you breathe. There are so many things hiding in the dark corners of the universe, some of them benevolent, some of them malignant. So rarely are they stumbled across that they leap at any opportunity."

"How long do you think it will take?"

"There's no telling, really. It could be hours. It could be longer. We just have to wait. She has to do this all on her own." The Doctor seemed more saddened by this than by anything else. And truly, he was.

Lucy was still recovering from her recurring nightmare, shown by the Somnium Parasites in even higher clarity, like she was watching a high-definition television. Now she was surrounded by blackness. She was still standing and yet there was no floor. She was neither stationary, nor falling. She was in Purgatory. In a way, this was the worst dream ever. She would just stay here forever, alone for eternity with her increasingly morbid thoughts. So now, she tried to find a way out. She tried to control her dream, not to wake up, but to control what was happening. The solidity of the blackness changed. She felt more closed in, like she was in a bottomless pit, instead of an endless vacuum. Well, that was something. She tried imagining chinks of light coming through the blackness. That didn't quite work, but some spots seemed a little greyer. She clawed at the black wall around her and light indeed tried to shine through.

Lucy now felt herself falling instead of drifting. She felt that the Parasites were angry; had she been starting to succeed in waking up? Had she been going about it in the wrong way before? She thought maybe now that she had been, that she should gain control instead of just trying to wake up. She hated being a prisoner in her own head. This would not go on for much longer if she could help it.

At long last, she felt herself hit the ground. And now the blackness was gone. The ground upon which she stood was made of concrete. The sky above her stretched on, as endless as Purgatory had been. She walked along the road, which now seemed to be winding and was made of gravel. She thought that maybe this was her new torture. She was to walk forever in search of a way out. Lucy stopped walking and the road stopped moving with her. Her own sister's image appeared to her, face impassive. Upon seeing that Lucy was no longer walking, Dream Juliet's gaze turned questioning. "Have you given up, twin? Maybe that'd be best. The Somnium Parasites have been so hungry for so long. And you've experienced so much. They could feed off of you for lifetimes. Yes, stay, Lucy. Stay in your dreams forever." This Juliet had Lucy's twin's voice, but none of her warmth.

"Why are you telling me this, Jules? What's the point of me listening to you? You're just a construct of the Parasites. None of this is real." Juliet only smiled and replied,

"Why indeed? Perhaps, Lucy, you should focus on trying to wake up. That seemed to make you happier at any rate." Lucy chose to ignore her dream sister. Whatever she said, it wasn't really Juliet. This was just a dream. Lucy could feel the whole vision writhing. The Parasites were angry again. Lucy was no longer their puppet; she was beginning to grow bored with their images, their conjurings. Whatever their emotions, the scene dissolved and a new one took its place.

Lucy was staring at what she knew had happened with Coryn Lu Reaux, but instead of she and Coryn lying on the metal tables, it was Juliet and the Doctor. She was facing the two people she'd seen dead on the floor, their name plates saying A500 and A600. "Choose." A500 said. And suddenly, Lucy knew what had really happened here. This had been the dilemma that the Doctor had been presented with. And now she felt that she was going to be sick. They wanted him to choose Lucy's life or Coryn's? And now she had to choose between Juliet and the Doctor.

"No, I won't do it." She said and for some reason she knew that the Doctor had done the same thing, had not actually made a decision. She had a brief flash of the scene that had actually taken place. A500 would decide for him, A500 killing Coryn, killing A600 because she'd been unable to kill Lucy, the Doctor killing A500, learning his name, injecting Lucy with adrenaline, and then Lucy waking up. Lucy gasped and stared again at the two menacing figures before her. None of them would die, not even in a dream. But A500 apparently still had a mind of his own and he plugged his gun into Juliet's heart. Lucy was furious and screaming. She ran at him, hitting every available surface she could find of him. But he shoved her away easily and Lucy staggered back several paces. Lucy needed the T.A.R.D.I.S., there was no other way around it. And there appeared the blue box, ready and waiting. She ran inside and opened a box that was sitting, waiting for her on a shelf. _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland _seemed to be following her everywhere. Inside the box was a mushroom. She tried to remember which side made you larger and which one small, and then tried to think which one would be advantageous to her. She went with the left side, having no other options and bit into it.She stayed the size she was and so rushed back out to the room. Her sister was still dead on the table and A's 500 and 600 had disappeared. The Doctor was sitting up, smiling at her. When she smiled back, she felt her skin begin to glow. She looked down at her arms, her fingers, yes; her skin was radiating golden light! And now the Doctor was shrinking away from her, was frowning. Lucy didn't know what to think and then the Doctor started to cry. He just looked her over and said, "What have I done?"

"What are you talking about, Doctor? I just controlled the dream, I know I did. I'm going to wake up at any minute, I know it."

"No, I've condemned you, Lucy. What have you become?"

And then the Doctor turned away from her and got into the T.A.R.D.I.S. and left her. He wanted nothing more to do with her, she knew it. He was abandoning her.

"No!" she screamed, long and loud.

Lucy was still screaming when she realised she was in her own room aboard the T.A.R.D.I.S. The Doctor was holding her shoulders and she looks at him, eyes wide, worried. Would he turn away from her again? What had that particular dream meant? And there was Juliet getting up from the chaise, not dead at the hands of A500. Juliet stroked Lucy's cheek, wiping away the single tear she had let fall.

"What did they show you, Lucy? What did you dream?" the Doctor asked, worried and fascinated at the same time.

"Oh, not now, Doctor, don't make her talk about it now. She needs rest." Juliet fretted.

"Rest?" Lucy asked, incredulous. "Don't you think I've had enough sleep to last me a while? I don't mind talking about it a bit, but I'll not go into great detail. I dreamt several dreams. I saw things that still don't make sense, I saw dad, and I saw all the people we've had to fight. I dreamed this recurring nightmare that was made so much worse by the Parasites. Then I saw things that I think might have been…warnings." She looked pointedly at the Doctor, and he nodded, almost indiscreetly. "But, Doctor, what will happen to the Parasites now that I'm awake? Are they still in my head, waiting for me to fall asleep?"

"No, they're dead now. They can only live in the dark of their homes and in their sleep induced environments. Now that you're awake, your brain killed them for you." Lucy didn't know whether to laugh or to vomit.

"I'm sorry I picked such an awful place, twin." Juliet said, once again stroking her hair.

"Oh, Jules, you picked a fine place. It was me who had to go wandering about. Could have had a nice picnic or something; and instead I have to go explore caves with brain-eating parasites in it." Lucy and Juliet laughed somewhat nervously.

Lucy looked over at the Doctor, who seemed bursting with energy. She could tell he wanted to talk to her. "Tell you what, Jules. I could really fancy a cup of tea. You want to go put the kettle on?" Juliet nodded and Lucy and the Doctor watched as she left. When he was certain she was gone and out of earshot, the Doctor drew Lucy in close.

"Doctor, this morning, before we even got to Germany, I had this weird dream. My mother told me that I was built, was born to withstand almost anything. She said that soon I would have my greatest trial yet and that, by traveling with you, I was already preparing myself. Do you have any idea what that means?"

The Doctor did, but he was not about to share this hypothesis with her, it frightened him too much. He pursed his lips a bit and frowned. Looking into her deep blue eyes, he knew he had to give her some answer though. "Honestly, Lucy, I might, but the thought is, is so half-formed, I, I-I have no grasp of it. I think your mother's right though. You certainly were built to last." Lucy smiled a little wistfully and heard the kettle whistling. She knew she didn't have much time before Juliet was back.

"I saw, because of the Parasites, what happened with Coryn and me." The Doctor's face fell and gave the slightest tremor. "Only, it was different, you know. Instead of me and Coryn on those tables it was you and Juliet. And that A500 bloke, he killed Juliet. And before he could kill you, I sort of realised I needed the T.A.R.D.I.S. and it just appeared. And I went inside and there's this mushroom on a box and I eat half of it and all of a sudden I'm glowing and I go back outside and you look at me like you've done the most horrible thing, and, and Doctor, you just left me there! In the dream you left me! That's when I woke up, for real."

The Doctor's idea solidified a little more when Lucy told him first of the real dream she'd had this morning and then of the Parasite infected one she'd had last. But he looked her sagely in the eye and said, "Lucy, you know I'll never leave you. You're far too important and far too much fun." Lucy offered him a small half smile again and he quickly gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

Lucy was sure the Doctor had felt her shiver when he kissed her cheek. She had no time to dwell on the lingering sensation, because presently, Juliet came back in with tea and sandwiches. They all sat on the floor, resolving not to speak of dreams and prophecies, of runway shows and stars. Juliet did most of the talking, telling them about her various experiences in Mumbai. The Doctor didn't offer his own exploits, just breathed in Lucy's scent, Lucy who was sitting so close and was at last, no longer a prisoner in her own mind. But he feared for what she might have yet to face. All the signs were pointing in the same direction and he wasn't sure he liked it. He also wasn't sure there was any way around it. And he also still wasn't entirely sure what _it _was. And things that he was unsure of tended to bother him. For now though, he decided to be utterly British and put aside the uncomfortable feelings and enjoy his tea.


	18. Tribes

"So, Lucy, do you love him?"

Lucy looked up at her sister, startled. "What's that?"

"You heard me. Do you love him? The Doctor?"

Lucy stammered, unsure how to answer. "Er, well, well that's neither here nor there, is it? You know, we-we've been through a lot together and, and we're certainly close, but I dunno if I'd say-"

"So you do?" Juliet said, cutting her off.

Lucy sighed and her shoulders slumped. She seemed to take a minute, not quite wanting to meet her sister's eye and then said, "Yes, yes I do, Jules. And I know it makes no sense-"

"Lucy, sense when has love made sense?"

"Well, true enough but I mean, he's a different species and he never really dies and this life is so-"

"Do you really care about any of that?"

"Absolutely not." Lucy said, completely bald faced. The two of them had a spare moment together; the Doctor was tinkering with the T.A.R.D.I.S. They'd all woken up this morning to smoke billowing out from its core, strange sparks threatening to set the place ablaze. The Doctor had run his hand through his hair, making it stand up in all directions. He'd started rattling things off at rapid pace and neither Lucy nor Juliet had been able to decipher any of his ramblings. So they'd waltzed off to Lucy's room, sure they had at least a couple hours to themselves. Juliet had of course noticed the way Lucy looked at the Doctor, and in turn, the way the Doctor stared after Lucy after she'd squeezed his shoulder and wished him luck. Lucy was now biting her lip, tilting her head, thinking as usual.

"What's up, twin?"

"Oh, Jules, I dunno. I'm so used to not trusting people; I'm so used to it being just me and you. But he's not like anything I'm used to. He's the person I feel safest with, even when we're in danger. He's like this familiarity even though there's still so much I don't really know about him."

"Well, I can't really say I blame you, Lucy. He's fantastic, he is."

Presently, the Doctor came into the room, knocking slightly on the door frame. "Hello. Everything's fine, we're all set. Sounds like she just had a cough, but she's purring now. Oh, Juliet, you're staying with us, right?"

Juliet had been having her doubts since their little mishap in the Black Forest. She also sensed that she'd be somewhat of a third wheel, however much her sister insisted that her company was delightful. Juliet had no doubt that Lucy was telling the truth; she just thought that maybe subconsciously she wanted to travel with just the Doctor.

"Actually, Doctor, I think I'll head home." Lucy's face fell and her mouth opened in quiet surprise. "Well, Lucy, I've still got Mumbai, and the flat needs looking after. You'll be fine without me; you always are." Lucy frowned, but nodded, knowing there was no use in trying to convince her twin to stay.

"Well, let me give you my credit card then, you can pay rent." She smiled and as she stood up to get the plastic, the T.A.R.D.I.S. gave a great lurch and set off to a destination unknown to the three inhabitants. Lucy stumbled to the floor as she had been midstride and she gave the Doctor a quizzical look. When they landed, he helped her up and said, "Maybe I didn't fix it as well as I'd thought."

Lucy threw a glance at Juliet. It looked like she was going to have to wait to pay the rent.

The Doctor stepped out of his beloved ship ahead of Lucy and Juliet Blake. Whatever was going on, it couldn't be good. First the T.A.R.D.I.S., the only one left anywhere, was acting sick. Next, said ship was apparently not fixed like it was supposed to be. And there was that incessant nagging at the back of his mind about what Lucy Blake would become. He didn't believe that her fate was set in stone, or even written in the stars. But everywhere they went, it seemed rumours of her latent survival instincts whispered about them. But the whispers were getting louder and the Doctor had had some time to think about these rumours while Lucy was in her Parasite filled dream.

The landscape before him was lush; they were in a forest again. This one was nothing like Germany however. While the Black Forest was old, this one hinted at ancient ages predating the Earth itself. Woodland creatures were darting about everywhere. That's strange, the Doctor thought. Those are regular Earth squirrels; that's a regular Earth eagle. But there's something strictly non-Earth about this planet. He glanced back for only half a second at Lucy and Juliet, only three paces behind him and holding hands. Juliet looked determinedly calm and collected; Lucy ever the image of practised grace and dignity. They walked for twenty minutes, not saying much, each just taking in their surroundings. Eventually they came to a clearing where people were building a campfire. This little civilisation was one of the most fascinating he'd ever seen.

These people all lived in canvas like tents, although the material was much thicker. This was probably due to the already chilling air and darkening sky. The people did not use crude tools to make anything however; he saw a man with a steel knife, a screwdriver (not sonic) and what he was sure was a regular tool box. They didn't have electricity, but something simulating it. Hovering orbs of glowing greenish white light provided luminescence and could follow them about when the knob at the top was pressed. He saw a woman doing a bit of ironing by taking one of these orbs and placing it near the fire. When it had heated up enough, she put on a thick hide glove and flattened the clothes. The clothes themselves were also a mix of modern and rustic. Leather trousers and short sleeved shirts were the dominant textile. There were also canvas tunics and cotton like blouses. And yet, every single piece was different and clearly hand-made. He thought Lucy would surely appreciate the expert stitching, the deft craftsmanship.

Despite their mixed time-period lifestyle which the Doctor found riveting, it was the people that captivated him, as always. They were almost entirely humanoid. They had slightly pointed ears which poked through their hair, all in shades of auburn. Their skin was tanned. The Doctor looked up and saw that this planet had two moons. He'd wager there were twin suns to go with them. They ranged in height but were generally very tall. The shortest appeared to be about five and a half feet high, already taller than Lucy and Juliet. Their immediately distinctive feature, however, was the markings, like dark blue tattoos on their faces. Some were angular, some curved, all quite artistic, like they had been drawn on by a painter. He couldn't tell as of yet if they were born with these markings, or if they were added on later in life. They all looked very clannish, like they took the "It takes a village" motto quite seriously. And sure enough, he saw children flocking from adult to adult, more fond of some, but clearly comfortable with all of them. The Doctor smiled; he was certain that he would not be met with hostility when he stepped out and greeted them all.

He was proved wrong, however, when every adult stood in one fluid movement, pulled weapons out and trained them on him and the alarmed Lucy and Juliet behind him. Their faces were all stern. The villagers and the newcomers all stood in a slightly stunned silence until one girl stepped forward. She was probably a little younger than Juliet and Lucy. Her tattoo-markings were angular; they arced over her eyebrows, along her cheekbones and came from the tops of her ears and along them to the straight lines of her jaw. The set of this jaw was naturally stern, guarded. Her eyes were steely grey and her hair was on the darker spectrum of auburn. She narrowed her eyes at the three travelers and tilted her head, sucking in her cheeks slightly. She was thinking, debating, the Doctor could tell. At long last she said in a clear but hard voice that sounded American,

"Where do you come from, strangers?"

The Doctor held up his hands in submission. "Very far away." was his answer. The girl narrowed her eyes again and said, "And what business do you have on Rhea Gaia?"

"Rhea Gaia…." The Doctor said to himself. Gaia, he knew referred to mother earth, and Rhea Sylvia was the mother of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. "Well, our transport seems to have had ideas of its own; we only came here by accident. Where is Rhea Gaia? What star system?"

The girl frowned as if she didn't understand and she turned back to an old man who certainly looked like a village elder. He made a curious series of signs to the girl and she turned back to them and said, "Elder Caelum says that this is the sixth planet in the Ferrus Soli system in the Caesar Galaxy." The Doctor suppressed the urge to smile. These were all Latin names derived from Ancient Rome and Ferrus Soli meant "fierce suns." So he had been right about the twin suns.

"I'm Aurelia. D'you want to come sit by the fire? Maybe warm up a bit?" Aurelia's almost cheerful banter and invitation was what sold them. Lucy and Juliet stepped forward first. Lucy held out her hand to shake Aurelia's and the girl looked at Lucy, once again confused. Lucy lowered her hand, a bit embarrassed and said, "Well, at any rate, I'm Lucy and this is my twin Juliet. And that man there's the Doctor."

Sitting round the fire, Lucy Blake thought that she could have been on holiday in some wooded area, a real Black Forest adventure, and not one filled with nightmares. She glanced over at Aurelia, who had given them a verbal tour of the village. The people were nomadic and every week or so would pack up all the tents and make for a different area. Aurelia told them she loved the woods and that this was a welcome change as they had previously spent three weeks in a desert. Aurelia was twenty years old and she shared a tent with her younger brother. Their birth parents had long since died, and they, like the rest of the village children, were raised by all the adults combined. Lucy saw Aurelia's brother Regulus peek his head out of the tent closest to them. He looked to be about ten years old and the markings on his face were exactly like Aurelia's. "So, Aurelia, tell me. Those markings on your face? Is that like, a tattoo, or are you born with them?" Aurelia looked confused again, and Lucy realised they probably didn't have a word for tattoos. But Aurelia looked round at the other individuals of her tribe and turned back to Lucy to answer her. "These symbols are inked on with oil we find in the water all over this planet. They are done when we're, when the planet has gone around each sun twice. Our people are creatures of the elements. Water is our blood, air our breath, earth our body and fire our spirit. We've mined the glowing orbs from caves that dot the landscapes. We take what we need from the earth without leaving too big a footprint."

Lucy nodded, mulling over the mutual ideas Rhea Gaia and Earth shared. There was conservatism, rites of passage, even the American Indian ideals of loving the Earth. Lucy nodded appreciatively. She glanced over at Juliet, who was enjoying her hot mug of something like chocolate, but spicy, like the Mayans had taken it, and with little blue sprinkles on top. The Doctor was listening just as raptly to Aurelia as Lucy was. He leaned forward, his thin frame comfortable on the wide rock, and put his elbows on his knees. He lowered his head a bit and asked in a soft voice, "So, I'm a bit out of my element here. And that doesn't happen very often at all. What are your people called?"

"We only have the names our birth parents give us."

"No unifying name for your race, your species?" the Doctor prodded. Aurelia shook her head and the Doctor nodded slowly. Lucy was busy casting about, looking at all the others. Aurelia had been the only one to step forward and welcome them; while most lowered their weapons, almost none greeted them with trusting faces. Lucy thought that being part of so tight knit a clan must do that to you. They had only each other in sometimes harsh landscapes, just as Lucy and Juliet had only had each other while they were growing up. Lucy caught a man's eye and he raised his jaw to her ever so slightly. She returned the gesture, grateful, but not wanting to make him uncomfortable. He walked over, everything about him suggesting power and cool intellect. He ignored Lucy, however, and walked straight to Aurelia. He bent low, glancing at Lucy, Juliet and the Doctor as he spoke. "So, what do you think?" was all he said.

Aurelia gave him a somewhat chastising look and said, "They're Earth."

"Do you really believe that?" he asked, a bit of malice creeping into his tone.

"Yes, I do, Brutus. They're solid packed Earth." He gave a curt nod and stood. Lucy didn't know how she knew, but she felt she had to stand and face him. She didn't even come up to his sternum but she looked him right in the eye. Lucy felt Juliet rise behind her as well and in her peripheral vision saw the Doctor tense up. Aurelia stood as well, but her stance was written with ease, and her demeanour was joking. "Brutus, I'm pretty sure the two of them could take you. Maybe even one of them. Look at Lucy; she's even got battle scars." Lucy suppressed the urge to smile as Brutus narrowed his eyes and his hands clenched. "Nah." He said, "She's feather-light. They both are. They'd be rock powder in seconds." He offered what barely passed as a smile at Aurelia, jutted his jaw at Lucy again and walked away. Lucy felt herself relaxing, still not entirely sure what had happened. She whipped round to Aurelia and said, "Why am I solid packed earth?"

Aurelia's stern visage broke into a true smile and she said, "We have expressions here referring to nature. When we like someone, we say they're Earth."

"And when he said he'd reduce us to rock powder, that's like saying 'I'll beat the snot out of you?'"

Aurelia pursed her lips and pulled her brow down, of course never having heard the expression before. "Sure." She said uncertainly.

At that moment, a rumbling shook the ground beneath them; the whole of the planet seemed to be quaking. Lucy looked up at the now pitch dark sky and saw nothing. She'd been half expecting a meteor shower to come crashing towards them. Juliet was motioning toward the trees in the distance however, and all too soon, Lucy saw them.

"What are they?" Juliet asked, breathless and scared.

"They" were humanoid beings that looked somewhat like Aurelia's people. Their skin was blue tinged, but they too had blackish brown markings on their faces. They all carried spears and had grim expressions. Their nostrils were flattened, looking more like snakes and they all had red eyes that glinted in the dark. Lucy could see them through the greenish light of the electric like orbs. She felt the Doctor standing beside her and she took his hand. Every one of Aurelia's people, including Aurelia herself, were drawing weapons. This was unlike the clannish caution they'd displayed toward she and her sister and the Doctor though. There was hate and vengeance and rage and fury etched in every facet of their faces. All save the smallest children were preparing to fight and Lucy saw Aurelia's brother Regulus sneak to the back with a small knife in his hand. She fought the urge to pull him back; she knew this was not her place. She glanced back at the approaching figures and saw the same anger and outrage on their faces. Lucy did hold Aurelia back, before she could make her way to the front line.

"Aurelia, what's going on? Who are they?"

Aurelia's lip curled and her fingers flexed over her broadsword, knuckles turning white. "They are bitter rivals. To put it very lightly. Our people and theirs have been feuding for ages. While no one knows who started the battles, we are sure it was them, the poisonous filth. They are the blackest bile and I think it's time we silenced them for good."

"But what are you fighting about?"

Aurelia looked at her completely soberly and said, "I don't know. No one knows." And then she walked off to the front, standing beside Brutus. Lucy was left staring aghast at Aurelia's statement. Surely countless dead had been buried over the ages. And surely, more bloodshed was intended here and now. She shared a glance with the Doctor, whose hand she still held and they thought simultaneously: We are going to stop this.


	19. Goodbye

Lucy raised her eyebrows at the Doctor and he nodded. They and a reluctant Juliet pushed their way to the front line, stopping slightly behind Brutus, Aurelia and Elder Caelum. Lucy looked at his withered face. His eyes held neither malice nor rage; only sadness. Surely he saw the futility of continuing a war no one knew anything about. This was racism and classism in the extreme. Two sides had been fighting for ages, for so long that they no longer knew why. Elder Caelum's eyes met Lucy's. She tried to silently ask him to put a stop to all this and she though he must understand. He gave her the slightest nod and his lips pursed into a sad smile.

Lucy took a moment to glance more closely at Aurelia's rivals. They were all corded muscle. Everything about the way they stood said power and control. Their spears were not made of wood, but of iron and the tips were capped with what looked like chrome. Metal studs appeared along the leather thongs around their necks and metal was also used as shin and arm guards. Lucy noticed that not all of these people were angry. There, like Elder Caelum, some people looked sad, pained, exhausted. Maybe there wouldn't be a fight. Lucy was so tired of fighting. Couldn't reason prevail for once?

She watched with bated breath as Elder Caelum stepped forward. Even the opposing side seemed to recognise him as an authority figure and the stirring stopped. Lucy could have heard a pin drop as Elder Caelum held up his hands, palms toward the dark sky and looked for a long while at his enemies. When he spoke, his voice carried and Lucy knew that even those at the back of both sides would hear him clearly.

"For countless ages the people of the Earth and the people of Metal have been at war. All we know is that we want different things for this land and that nothing will stop either side from having their way. We all pack up what little we own and move along, forever engaging and avoiding each other. I ask now, why can't we leave each other alone? This land is big enough for all of us to thrive. How many of our children have been laid to rest? How many more will die? Can't we end the suffering, the wars? Let's say for now that neither side is right nor neither side is wrong. Our two suns and two moons can exist together in the sky, sharing the space. We should use that as an example and stop the violence now. What do you have to say, brothers?"

His words were met with stunned silence.

Lucy was about to shake herself to pieces waiting. Would they listen? Would they agree to work something out, to end the culling?

She blanched as she heard the unmistakable noise of a spear whizzing through the air. The chrome tip flashed briefly in the light of the electronic orbs. Everything seemed to slow down and Lucy watched with her sister and the Doctor in open-mouthed horror as the spear sank home into the breast of Elder Caelum.

"No!" she shrieked, along with many others. The Doctor was shouting something but his words were drowned out by the cries all around him; anguished ones from the Earth people and impassioned ones from the Metal people.

Lucy didn't think, couldn't, as she rushed forward and caught Elder Caelum as he fell. His body was lighter than she had expected it to be and he was already fading fast. She heard the Metal people stiffen; she had been relatively unnoticed beforehand, but now they could see that she wad not like any of them. The Doctor and Juliet came forward as well, Juliet pressing a hand to hr throat. The Doctor looked just as grieved as any of the Earth people.

In Lucy's arms, Elder Caelum was struggling to speak his last. The spear was still protruding awkwardly from his chest and blood was starting to pool around him. It had also got on Lucy's hands and arms and in the light she could see was a dark, dark red, almost purple. He made gasping noises that plucked at Lucy's heart strings; she wanted to end his misery so badly, but she would never be able to do it. Finally, Elder Caelum looked up at the Doctor who knelt and rested his hand on the dying man's shoulder.

"Make them end it." Elder Caelum said in a hushed and pained voice. "This war, these battles cannot continue. We don't even know why we fight anymore. Doctor, lonely god, you can make this end." The Doctor looked momentarily stunned and Lucy remembered vaguely that Reinette had called him a lonely angel. Yes, it was the Face of Bo that had called him the lonely god. But the Doctor only nodded and Lucy was sure that if anyone could end this, it would be him.

Elder Caelum turned to Lucy who still held him and said, "You, my child, will help him. You who can withstand anything will join forces with the Doctor." Lucy and the Doctor traded dark glances. There it was again. That nagging strange familiarity. But what did it mean? And then, amid the bloodthirsty screams of the Earth and Metal people, Elder Caelum closed his eyes and died.

Lucy laid him down where she sat as gently and swiftly as she could. She rose, crying, "Stop!" In mere seconds, the shouts and threats had ceased. The Earth people looked at her with wavering trust; perhaps the elder's words would solidify her to them. The Metal people looked at her with curiosity. Some looked only doubtful. She was clearly alien, something strange and unimportant. But she took advantage of the silence.

"Elder Caelum did nothing to deserve this. He died because of a feud that has been going on for ages that no one knows anything about! He was trying to help all of you, to end the number of deaths." She pointed to one of the Metal people, a stocky man of about thirty and asked, "How many of your own family have died in these fights?"

He frowned at her, clearly not wanting to answer the question. But everyone was looking at him expectantly now and reluctantly he said, "Five. My father and grandfather, my brother and my own two sons." Lucy nodded and before moving on said,

"I'm sorry. Truly I am. No parent should have to carry that burden. I know what you've lost." He nodded, almost shyly, like he didn't know how to take her. Lucy then wheeled round and pointed to Brutus whose face was impassive. "And many of your family have died?"

Brutus drew himself up to his full height which was quite staggering. "Three. And many, many of my friends. Solid, packed earth friends." Lucy could have sworn that he almost smiled at her when he said that. Lucy asked this same question of a handful of others from both sides. Some had lost many, some only a few, but all had lost some. She didn't need to ask everyone to know the kind of answers she'd get. She was biting back tears already; she really did feel for these people. How could they go on doing this?

The first man she had asked stepped forward and said, "We have all lost, girl. But who are you to tell us what to do? You have no authority here. You and your friends are strange and not to be trusted." Most of the Metal people and even some of the Earth people nodded in assent. The Doctor then stepped forward, placing his hand on Lucy's shoulder. Lucy was still glaring at the man, not angry anymore, just numb. This kind of tolerance of death was just beyond her. "Please, hear me out." The Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor and if you're looking for authority, it ends with me. It doesn't go any higher. Now, we know you've all lost family, friends and we're all sorry. But fighting in a war that no longer has any meaning is pointless. Are you angry just to be angry? Do you have to kill each other just because you're not the same? Well, let me tell you, same isn't good. You need different people, different customs in order to thrive. Both your civilisations will just die out of you go on like this. I am begging you to stop. But by all means, carry on if you can tell me what good will come of this battle, right here, right now." He looked round, imploring answers from stony faces. No one wanted to answer, that was plain. Lucy was hoping it was because no one _could _answer.

"What? Can't tell me?" the Doctor continued, "No one can tell me what good this will do? Go on then, more people will die. Isn't that something? The Earth people will have less Metal people to worry about and vice versa! Doesn't that count for anything?"

Stunned faced were all that greeted him. Lucy was surprised herself. She had never seen the Doctor this angry. He had talked about how angry he used to be, after the Time War, and she thought now that she must be glimpsing some of that. She couldn't begrudge him any of it though. She was angry too. Everything he said was right. In war, there are no winners. Lucy looked behind herself at the Earth people. All except Brutus had lowered their weapons and Aurelia was looking mournfully at Elder Caelum. Lucy had the sense that he had had the biggest hand in hers and Regulus' upbringing. Even now, Regulus was standing in front of her and she had her arms crossed over his chest. Aurelia whispered something very softly into his ear and Lucy saw a delicate tear fall from her eye and onto the earth below her. Lucy clenched her jaw and felt her sister's hand in hers. She turned back round and shared grim smiles with her twin.

She threw a look over at the Metal people and saw that almost all of them had lowered their spears; including the man she had first spoken to, the one she took to be the leader. Upon seeing his lowered spear, Brutus laid his long knife down on the ground. He walked briskly past the travelers in the very front, stopping in front of the chief of the Metal people and held out his hand. Lucy caught her breath as the chief extended his own hand and shook Brutus'. All watched in awe at what was probably the first peaceful interaction between the two tribes in hundred of years. Lucy found herself crying and looked over and saw that Juliet was weeping too.

The Doctor had wandered away from the awe-struck group, away from Lucy and Juliet. He was a bit angry at himself for lashing out, but what else would make them stop? He couldn't even guarantee that this peace would last long. At least it was a first step. Below him was solid packed earth. Above him a dark sky with two low hanging moons, existing, just as Elder Caelum had said, peacefully together. He saw that one moon was more silvery than the other, like the chrome caps of the Metal people's spears. The other moon was deeply scarred and pockmarked, like the soil that the Earth people so devoutly worshiped. But he knew that light years separated them, that they were not as close as they seemed. Maybe if they were forced to share a closer space, these moons would not get on so well either. He could hear all the people, both tribes mingling, murmured apologies, tearful laments. He thought that one group was going to arrange to have a funeral ceremony for Elder Caelum, a man he wished he had gotten to know better. That man had great wisdom in him and most of it, the Doctor knew, would be lost, wasted. Few things pained him more than the obvious loss of a tutor, the potential to learn scattered to the winds. When a soft hand was placed gently in his shoulder, close to the nape of his neck, he knew immediately who it was. "Lucy." He said without turning around. Her worried face appeared in front of him and he found himself admiring the way her storm blue eyes looked in the eerie light of the orbs. He offered her a sad smile, which she returned.

"Now, what is that face for?" she asked in a soft, low voice. He knew that she was trying to cheer him up without demanding that he do so. Lucy understood, like so few people did, that sadness is as much a part of life as happiness is. It is harder to embrace, but it must be done in order to grow.

"War is one of my least favourite things in the universe. It is also one of the most common things in the universe."

Lucy nodded sagely and said, "In war there is no right and no wrong, no good and no bad, only the numberless dead." The Doctor sighed and pulled Lucy into a hug. He rested his chin on top of her head. Her face was pressed to his chest and he breathed her in, wishing there was some place the two of them could just exist forever. Lucy was the first to let go and she led him by the hand to where Juliet was helping both tribes build a funeral pyre for Elder Caelum. In both tribes, cremation was the traditional method of bidding farewell to the dead, of laying them to rest. Juliet gave a little wave to the Doctor and he marveled at her ability to blend in wherever she was. Her ready acceptance of everyone was simply flawless.

Only moments later, four men, two from each tribe bore the body of the wise man to the pyre. Lucy realised soon that here, everyone watched the cremation. Tears brimmed at her eyes, but she did not let them fall. The Doctor watched Lucy's quiet dignity, one of the many things he so admired in her. He held her right hand and Juliet stepped over when the pyre was finished and took Lucy's left. They stood together, somewhat at the forefront as everyone had insisted. They listened to many people's accounts of his various brave deeds, tales of his boundless wisdom and heartfelt apologies at his death. All this was said as the great blaze grew taller and taller, scratching the sky with its smoke. Many people were looking toward the three companions expectantly. Aurelia, who stood close to them, leaned in and said, "I think they want you to say something. You were the ones who stopped this after all." Juliet gulped and the Doctor looked thoroughly uncomfortable; this was the part where he usually ducked out. They both looked at Lucy, who had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. After a short while, she licked her lips and cleared her throat. In a quiet voice that carried in the stillness she recited, "Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you wake in the morning hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circling flight. I am the soft starlight at night. Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep. Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there, I did not die." Her voice faded into nothing and she heard her twin sniff and wipe at her eyes with her free hand. Lucy looked to the Doctor and Aurelia for approval, and got it in the form of his smile and her respectful nod.

The Doctor motioned for them to leave in the press of bodies all saying their last goodbye. As they passed, Lucy gave Aurelia's hand a squeeze. The young girl looked over her shoulder at the retreating Lucy and smiled wistfully and waved. Lucy returned the wave, feeling more bittersweet than she ever had in her whole life.

The thirty minute walk back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. was uneventful and silent, for which Lucy was very grateful. She needed a break from adventure and a moment to think to herself. Juliet knew how she felt about the Doctor which made her unsettled for some reason. True, he was unlike any other person, let alone any other man either of them had ever known. Juliet said she was fine with it, but Lucy knew that deep down, something disturbed her twin. She just didn't know what it was. Was she uncomfortable with the fact that he's an alien? Does she just feel like a third wheel? Lucy knew like no other that Juliet was as mysterious as herself. And now Lucy wondered how she could be thinking about all this after everything that had just happened. An innocent man had died, but because of it, hundreds of people could now live together in peace or at the very least, respect one another's right to occupy space. But how had Elder Caelum known about the Doctor? How had he known about her ability to withstand all? Lucy was not the most avid believer of all this, but the rumours were getting harder and harder to ignore. Surely that many people whom she had never met, who had never even heard of her couldn't be wrong.

The doors to the beloved ship were waiting and came open with the key round her neck. As soon as she was in the doors, Juliet piped up. "I think I'll go home now, Doctor. Back to London, I mean. I've loved traveling with you, and Lucy, I'll take that money for the rent." Lucy was nodding sadly and departed to her bedroom to get her card. The Doctor had been looking after her as she went and looked over at Juliet when she said, "Take good care of her, eh, Doctor? She's all I've got, you know." The Doctor only smiled; as if he could even dream of hurting her. But that didn't stop other people trying, did it?

"You know I'll do everything I can, Juliet. And thank you." He said as Lucy walked back into the main room, looking from her dear twin to the Doctor. Juliet cocked her head quizzically but didn't say anything, only nodded. She accepted Lucy's plastic and went to gather the few things she'd brought with her.

"Remember to keep me posted, twin. I'll have none of you running about and doing all sorts of dangerous things without at least letting me know."

"'Course, Jules, anything you say. Can't have you going grey early, now cane we?" They were in Lucy's room, making sure everything was accounted for. "Do you really have to go though?" Lucy asked. Juliet nodded and said,

"This isn't for me, twin. This kind of thing changes people. Now, as far as I can tell, you've been changed for the better, but I don't know. Sometimes I barely recognise you. And besides, I can hardly keep up with you and the Doctor. You were always the smarter one, Lucy, no you really were. But I've got a life here too and, and…"

"And what then, Jules?" Lucy asked.

"And, I, I dunno. I just feel like this whole thing was meant for you and not for me. That's all. I'm not being left behind, you're not abandoning me, I know. We're just two different people, in two very different places. We've all got our purposes and this is clearly yours."

Lucy nodded, not wanting her sister to go, but understanding the importance of it. Together, they walked down the hallway and into the main room. Juliet smiled and gave her twin a quick kiss and hug before she walked out the doors of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and onto the London street. Lucy got a brief glance of her sister unlocking to door to 10838 Carnaby Street and then she turned back to the Doctor who was grinning at her.

"Alrighty then, I've got all the kinks worked out for real this time. Where are we going now, Lucy Blake?"


	20. Matter

Lucy found herself in relative bliss, toasting a glass of bubbly with the Doctor on the planet, not the city, Barcelona. Their little holiday was in its third day now; both had agreed that after the little showdown on Rhea Gaia, they needed a break. The T.A.R.D.I.S. had indeed been working fine and Lucy had sighed in relief upon seeing Barcelona's gorgeous sunsets and lustrous beaches. She and the Doctor had sought out a tiny beach town and taken up residence there, for free since she and the Doctor were able to bring the inn-keeper such shiny trinkets. The particular bubbly they were enjoying had been collecting dust and from the taste of it, was a very good year.

Lucy was looking out at the waves with the purple, red, orange and pink sky above them. A soft wind was blowing her hair in front of her. Her bare toes were buried deep into the sand and she was glad for the light jacket she'd put on before walking out the door this evening. She looked over at the Doctor, somewhat comical sitting on the sand, also barefooted, but still in his suit. The brown one with the blue pinstripes; her favourite. He smiled at her briefly, lifting his glass to her and taking a drink. She mimicked his gesture and felt the cool tingle of champagne trickling down her throat.

"I could stay here forever, I could." Lucy said, as much to herself as to the Doctor. He only made a noncommittal noise and drank more champagne. "Oh, go on then. Endless beaches, good people, gorgeous skies, what more could you ask for?"

"Gallifrey had sunsets like these, only different because it had two suns, like on Rhea Gaia." The Doctor said suddenly. Lucy looked over at him, somewhat perplexed. He never talked about his home planet. "When the suns would touch the horizon, the trees, they were silver but they looked like they were on fire. And it had beaches too, brilliant ones. You would have loved them Lucy. You would have absolutely adored them." Lucy opened and closed her mouth a couple times.

"I'm sure I would have." Was all she managed to stammer out. The Doctor looked her straight in the eyes, all the while he had been looking out at the ocean. He nodded somewhat wistfully and Lucy thought, not for the first time, that she wished there was some place the two of them could step out of time. Maybe this place. It reminded him of his home, and was at the same time so wonderfully unlike her own. She sighed a bit herself, before taking another sip of her drink. She was listening to the gentle hum of the waves, the crash on the shore and then the steady ebb and pull back away from her. God, she wanted to sail. Maybe she'd ask the Doctor to take her out to sea. Just listen to that steady beat, the only thing one could count anymore, save his own heart. Listen to that metallic thrum and-

Metallic thrum? She thought suddenly. Lucy leaped up and whirled round. The T.A.R.D.I.S. was leaving! Without them! "Doctor!" she shouted. He got up too and they made a mad dash for the quickly fading blue box. Their bubbly glasses thudded onto the cushiony sand and would be left there, until the disappointed inn keeper found them the next morning. But that didn't matter to them as they had made it inside just as the ship was taking off, destination unknown.

The door to the blue box opened ever so slightly, two curious faces popping out. Lucy Blake and the Doctor were in a cupboard. "Of all the places to land…" the Doctor was muttering under his breath, "I always end up in storage." Lucy was peering round, investigating. She'd pried open the door to the closet and was waving the Doctor through. He followed her and found that they were on-

"Oh, brilliant, a space ship! Haven't been on one of these in a long time!" Lucy looked back and shook her head at him.

"If this is a proper space ship, I'll skip next time. What's with all the rubbish?" Indeed there seemed to be rubbish and refuse all around. The Doctor had already whipped out his sonic screw driver and was shining on this smoking heap of metal and that pile of scraps.

Lucy opened the only door available to her, where the knob was rusting off. In front of her was what looked like a furnace, long rows of cast iron cauldrons belching flame and smoke. A dank hallway would be their only means of travel and they'd be covered in soot, but it'd have to do.

"Lucy, come here, you need to see this." came the Doctor's awed voice. Lucy shut the door and walked briskly to the Doctor, staring out the window she hadn't noticed before. She came to stand beside him and instantly clapped a hand to her mouth at what she saw. The Doctor put his arm round her, half smiling at her amazed expression. Lucy was looking at the most brilliant meteor shower in the most brilliant sky she had ever seen. She could see planets everywhere, one with rings, one so close they seemed to share an atmosphere and several others twinkling brightly. Tiny beams of lights were cascading in all directions, thousands of burning masses. But the best part was the sky. It was all rusted gold and burnt orange, brilliant yellow and deep blood red and even traces of purple threaded in between. She'd thought the sunsets on the planet Barcelona had been gorgeous. That looked like utter filth compared to this.

"Doctor, is that what it was like on Gallifrey? All that raw power and those colours. Different planets in the sky, oh, I'd never even been able to imagine!" The Doctor smiled. It was like the very first time she'd ever seen him smile, and like that moment, it took years off his face. His deep brown eyes twinkled and Lucy felt her heart skip a beat. She had to close her mouth shut to keep herself from sighing. How pathetic was she.

"Sometimes." He answered. "Gallifrey has different planets in its view, had of course. And there weren't meteorite showers every day. But the sky is about the same. All that raw power, just like you said. One day I'll take you to the Medusa Cascade, close to where Gallifrey was. You've seen the images of the Hubble Space Telescope, yes? Imagine that but in high definition, like on the telly. It'll be just you and me, it will."

Lucy smiled to herself, biting her lip already in anticipation. Wherever they were right now could wait. She wanted to go to the Medusa Cascade. The Doctor had practically promised her a date. She knew she shouldn't think of it like that, but…

"Well, Doctor, I'm tearing myself away from this view now, while I still can. Come on, something new awaits outside." Lucy couldn't know how right she was when she opened the door she thought would lead to the furnace room and instead found something totally different.

Instead of billowing smoke and sparks, Lucy found what looked to her like a control panel. In the centre of the room was a tall pillar and around it, a dais not unlike the T.A.R.D.I.S.' Buttons and knobs beeped and flashed briefly. It seemed as if someone had just left. A light had been left on and the Doctor saw Lucy's bewildered face. "What's wrong then, Lucy? I'm sore whoever runs this place will come along in no time. Not to worry."

"No, but, but that was the only door in that room. And this is a different room than what I saw. It's completely different, it's changed? Oh my god, where are we?"

At that moment the door on the opposite side of the room came open and two people spilled inside. One was a man, about the Doctor's height, but stocky and grizzled. The other, a woman, ebony skinned and hard featured. "Finally!" the man exclaimed. "I thought we'd never get back here."

"Yeah well it was bound to happen sometime, wasn't it?" the woman half snarled. She looked round at the two clueless strangers and hit her friend on the shoulder. He turned round as well and his mouth fell open.

"No." he said, "No, it can't be. How could they possibly be here?"

"Well don't ask me, but they obviously are up to no good." The woman griped and she starting pulling what Lucy was sure was a weapon out of her belt.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no." The Doctor said, he and Lucy raising up their arms in peace. "We came here by accident, my ship was pulled here. Now, to save time, I'm the Doctor and this is Lucy Blake. And who, might I ask are you?" The woman looked irritated at being addressed so on her own ship. Or Lucy assumed it was her ship.

The man grinned however and stuck out his hand for them. "I'm James McElroy and this is Trina Barton. Welcome to the Intrepid, Doctor, Lucy Blake." Lucy smiled. She couldn't help herself in this man's presence. He was infectious. His comradeship with this Trina Barton person would be comical if it weren't so archetypical. "Anyway, I don't care how you got on here, but you did and that's all that mattered. It can be done. The cycle can be interrupted, Trina and that means we can go home."

The Doctor frowned, finally lowering his arms. "What do you mean, "the cycle?" Exactly how far from home are you?"

"We're from Earth." James offered, "I'm guessing you're off-worlders. Anyway, we got sent out here, on what was apparently a wild-goose-chase, as the old saying goes. Me and Trina sorta ticked off the wrong people and they sent us on a special mission to get us out of their hair. Looks like we found out too much about what Torchwood was up to and they panicked."

"Torchwood?" the Doctor's interest was piqued now. James and Trina only nodded.

"Does the cycle have anything to do with the rooms moving?" Lucy asked. James looked at her and gave her that _grin _again.

"She's a clever one, isn't she? You're right, Lucy, the cycle _is _the rooms changing round. It's totally random. Sometimes a whole day will go by without a shift and sometimes it'll be every few minutes. There's no order and no way to predict it."

"What exactly is this mission that Torchwood sent you on?" The Doctor asked, walking round the control panel room now. This time, it was Trina who spoke.

"We were to go to the Andromeda Galaxy and find this dust, it's called Life Matter. No one knows what exactly it does, but Torchwood is after it, and to keep us silent about it, they let us have a hand in it. Well, we found the bloody dust, and put it in a storage closet. Trouble is, we haven't been able to find the closet. This was about a week ago. "

"But we just came from the storage cupboard! Doctor, did you notice anything that looked like, like Life Matter, is that what it is?" The Doctor was shaking his head.

"No, I didn't. I was preoccupied with the T.A.R.D.I.S., it keeps doing things like this."

"Doctor, maybe it was the Life Matter. Maybe that's what pulled us here. Didn't you tell me that sometimes life sort of…interferes with what's already going on? Not like fate, not really, just guidelines that are more persistent?" The Doctor almost smiled at Lucy, but instead said,

"Oh, that's perfect! It's the Life Matter that pulled us here, into the very cupboard where it was stored! Trina, James, you said you know nothing about it. How much is nothing?"

James looked sheepish and said, "Well, there are rumours. Supposedly, the Life Matter is telepathic and can communicate with people at will, but only if it so chooses. You can't ask it any questions, it can just tell you what it wants to. And it can't lie." The Doctor and Lucy looked at each other, glances that held both fear and wonder.

"This is the main control room, yes?" the Doctor said, thinking, running his hands through his hair, making it stand up in all directions. James nodded and Trina said,

"Yeah. We wanted to come here to see if we could somehow stop the rooms from moving, but we have no idea how. We think we can stop this room from moving, but not all the others. And besides, we have no way of actually stopping it." James and Trina looked somewhat hopeless. Lucy's and the Doctor's faces, however, were nothing short of jubilant. Trina was looking at them like they were mad and then Lucy laughed as the Doctor pulled out his sonic screw driver.

"Lucky for you, James McElroy and Trina Barton, I have a sonic screwdriver. Now, this little handy gadget is good for many things. It's best at opening doors, and- and this is a big and, locking things." Lucy bit her lip, trying not to look like she was mocking James and Trina. The Doctor trained the screw driver on the heart of the control panel and the metallic buzzing told her all was in working order. In a matter of seconds, the panel gave one surge and then went completely dim.

"You've killed it! You've killed the Intrepid, now we'll never get home!" wailed James.

"No, no, don't be silly, I'd never do a thing like that. I did just what you and Trina said. Locked this room so that only the other rooms can move. There are two doors in this chamber and I say we start opening these doors. We only need two people which means that two of us can sit back and make tea. I love good pot of tea." Lucy rolled her eyes at James who laughed and headed for the doors he and Trina had come through. When neither Trina nor the Doctor made to walk, Lucy took I upon herself to try the other door, the one she and the Doctor had come through.

Lucy found the laundry room first, just a single washer and dryer tumbling away. "I've got the boiler room!" called James.

"Nothing over here!" Lucy shouted back to him. Next Lucy found a stateroom, and James and office.

Then Lucy found the boiler room again and James just a long hallway. Lucy wondered how many rooms this ship could possibly have after she and James had opened their doors ten times apiece. Finally, "I've got it!" Lucy screamed in triumph and joy. James, the Doctor and Trina came rushing over into the cupboard. The space was limited as the T.A.R.D.I.S. was taking up a lot of room.

"We probably don't have much time." Trina reminded them. "The rooms could move again at minute."

Lucy had no idea what the Life Matter would look like, or even whether or not it was contained. There

Weren't many places for it to hide though, and she though one of them must find it soon, before their

chance of escape was gone. Lucy squeezed herself in between the ship and the wall of the cupboard, as the only one that would fit.

Her hand scraped against something cylindrical. Closing her fist round it and pulling it up she could see-

"Is this it?" she asked. Lucy was holding a plastic container that was about fifteen centimeters long and

only three wide. James' and Trina's sort of awed silence confirmed her assumption. Lucy and the others gazed into it, gold particles, indeed like dust were floating about inside. They weren't really bouncing off each other, but it looked as though they were mingling. Like each little tiny particle was conscious. And perhaps they were, Lucy thought. James had said that they could speak telepathically. And then, deep in her head, in a voice that sounded like her own but was so different, "Lucy Blake. The universe has waited a long time for you. And soon, you will become a part of it in a way you never knew was possible." Lucy knew she didn't need to speak aloud and found herself thinking,

"What do you mean? What's going to happen to me?"

"Life as you know it will change forever. The Lucy Blake you have come to know yourself as will disappear forever. What you will decide to do with your future is up to you. You have been told by many people that you have a latent ability to survive. That you will overcome all, and that you will survive that which would crumble others. This is all true. You will have a many choices to make, Lucy, and not many wise people will envy you. We wish you luck, Lucy."

And before she could think another thing, the canister was being wrenched out of her hands. She'd had the sense that the Life Matter had finished speaking to her anyway and wouldn't answer any of the billion questions she had racing through her mind. Could she even ask the Doctor about any of this? It all seemed like it was meant just for her, but how could she keep all this to herself?

Lucy watched as Trina was carrying the Life Matter back across the threshold. She felt the ground under her churning and knew that the rooms were about to shift. The Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled across to the main room. At the same time, he trained the sonic screw driver on the floor panel connecting the main room to the cupboard. To his immense relief, it held. He wouldn't have to spend hours looking for his ship. They were close to a wall and he put his hand up against it, backing her up. He leaned down toward her and said, "The Life Matter spoke to you, didn't it?" Lucy only nodded, not sure what she could and couldn't say. She was sure that she was free to disclose as much or as little information as she wanted. But how could she even explain any of it?

"Listen, before you ask, I couldn't really make much sense of what it said, and I don't think you could either. All I know is, it talked about…about my survival. Wherever we go, Doctor, this follows us and I don't think I like it." From the look on the Doctor's face, he didn't like it either.

"It said I was going to change. That the person I know myself as would be gone. Am I going to die, Doctor?" she tried to keep the fear out of her voice, but knew that she couldn't. Not with him. He pulled her into a quick hug and kissed the top of her head. He then turned back to James and Trina and said,

"Are you two gonna be all right, getting back to Earth? I could give you a lift in my ship." He gestured toward the blue box which got a dubious look from Trina and an intrigued one from James.

"I think we'll be just fine, Doctor. And thanks for all your help, both of you. And don't worry; we'll make sure Torchwood knows that we'll deal with them if they have any ill will toward the life matter." The Doctor and Lucy nodded as the opened the door to their salvation. They stood on the threshold, saying a proper goodbye for once.

"Will we see you again?" James asked, looking pointedly at Lucy. She shook her head sadly and said,

"I don't think so, sorry. It's a crazy life we lead." And with that, they turned and shut the door on the Intrepid. Lucy was left with more questions than ever, but thought that they could wait a little while. In the back of her mind, she heard the Doctor saying something about the Medusa Cascade. Lucy smiled at him and tried not to think about the Life Matter. What would come would come, right?

At any rate, what the Doctor promised would be the most beautiful thing she would ever see was waiting for her. And whatever else was waiting for her, she could have this, and for a while at least, him.


	21. Battle

"Doctor, why don't you pick where we go this time? It's your turn." Lucy chided him. Although they rarely ended up where they'd intended to go in the first place. The Doctor frowned for a moment and said, "Nah, why don't we just make it random? I always say it's more fun that way."

"Well, if you insist, then."

"I do." And he grinned, so Lucy couldn't help herself and she grinned right back. She watched the Doctor set the controls, pushing buttons and pulling levers at random. A jolt shook the cabin and they faltered, laughing all the while.

They were even laughing as they walked out the doors of the ship. When they looked round themselves, however, all sounds of mirth ceased. Lucy's mouth hung open and the Doctor frowned, looking grim. Lucy could tell they were on a battlefield, and the colours each army wore seemed familiar. They had gone back in time, no question about that. The armies were using bayonets, cannons, rifles. The smell of gunpowder choked the air and something more foul. A cloying, sickly sweet yet rusty smell that Lucy would not forget; blood. Shouts could barely be heard above the endless firing of guns. Lucy and the Doctor were standing atop a hill, looking down at the carnage.

A lull seemed to come to the fighting. The soldiers were looking up at the sky, laying down their arms in wonder. Lucy and the Doctor looked up as well. Oblong discs were descending. Oblong discs with circular lights affixed to the bottom. There were about six in all. Legs were extending from the bottoms of these objects, three legs that had previously been stored unseen. They landed on the battlefield and everyone seemed to be listening to the hum of the engines winding down. While these events were close to commonplace for Lucy, she was sure this was nothing short of some fresh nightmare for the soldiers.

Doors opened on each ship and a stair descended, like an escalator. One being from each ship emerged at the top of these stairs, and they walked down. Once they arrived on the ground, Lucy could see that they wore clothes like form fitting grey jumpsuits. Their skin was a dusty, almost marbled grey, fingers and toes slightly elongated, but otherwise, almost completely human-looking. They all had dark grey fuzz on top of their heads and their eyes were astonishingly blue. Their mouths were all grim set and they looked with somehow bored disdain at the soldiers. They seemed not to see the two weathered travelers at all.

"Doctor, what is this? Where are we, and who are they?"

"This is the American Civil War, Lucy. The battle of Gettysburg, 3rd July, 1863. And the UFO's have landed."

"But, but, there were no UFO's at Gettysburg! Were there?"

"Sometimes, thing's change, I dunno, it's hard to explain. But they're here now. And we're going to find out why."

The aliens approached the nearest soldiers. Lucy identified a private, a colonel and two leftenants; the former two, members of the Union army, the latter, members of the Confederacy. The alien in the middle spoke. "We have been watching you for a long time. Your war has given us the tools we need to fly back home. We have scoured the galaxies for weapons such as yours that can fuel our long flight back to the third moon of Fal." Lucy wondered what weapons they could be talking about. Cannons and bayonets? Why not go only a few years into Earth's future and harness the power of the atomic bomb? She shuddered to think about it, but if they needed advanced weapons, this was hardly the place to come. From what scant little she knew about the American Civil War, they didn't even have proper medical equipment.

The soldiers all seemed to share her thoughts, as they looked down at their arms, muddied and rusted, some, bloodied and all but spent, others. One leftetnant offered his rifle to the alien in the middle, perhaps just wishing them to go away.

The alien held up his hand again, "No, soldier, you misunderstand us. We do not want your physical arms; no these by far benefit us only when in your hands. For we need your rage. We need your codes of honour and your allegiances. This is a bloody war indeed, one fought brother against brother. The people of Fal thrive on bloodshed and hatred. We will use the rage that courses through your veins to guide our way back home." The aliens all around him looked like they were approximating smiles. Were the soldiers supposed to be happy about all this? Lucy wasn't sure how she felt. Maybe, if the soldiers saw that the people of Fal needed rage, they could stop the fight. The battle of Gettysburg could never happen!

"I know what you're thinking, Lucy. But this is another one of those things that has to happen. This was a deciding battle of this war. And yes, I know, thousands of people lost their lives here. But it would mean even more lost if it had never occurred." Lucy only nodded, wondering how the armies would react.

One rebel spoke up. "And who the hell are you to tell us all this? Say we don't fight today?" But the alien in the middle was prepared for this question.

"Never fear, my pets. Once we leave, your memories will be wiped and the bloodshed will continue." They ignored the soldiers' shouts of protest and disbelief. The six representatives got back into their respective ships and flew off without so much as a backward glance. Everyone watched them ascend into the sky. As soon as they were out of sight, the armies all looked round themselves and engaged in combat once more.

"I hate this!" Lucy screeched, still unheard over the noise of the battle. The Doctor looked at her, not surprised in the least.

"I hate war! It's all pointless. It's a bunch of people just killing each other because they can't agree. Brother fighting brother, just like they said! How can you stand this, Doctor?" Her eyes were brimming and she thought maybe her voice would go hoarse before the day was out.

The Doctor stayed where he was and said, "I can't, Lucy. But what are we going to do? I told you, this day has to happen. The battle has already been going on for days. But, this war isn't pointless, Lucy. It's one of the bloodiest battles in the bloodiest war, yes, but it's fought for many reasons. The Civil War is the test of what America could do, of how they could first leave a sovereign nation and then stay together despite their hardships. And I know you don't want to hear about any of that now. Now, originally, the people of Fal had nothing to do with this, but they're gone now and we should get out too. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to."

"But now, you see, Doctor. I've got to help." And then the Doctor smiled at her, amid all the chaos and death. He walked over to her, arms wide and held her close. "And that's what I love about you, Lucy Blake." He said softly. Lucy sighed and pulled away from him.

The armies were separating now and the Union in their blue were coming up the hill. The Rebels in their grey were retreating far down the hill. Now Lucy was confused. She'd made all that fuss and they were done fighting? Just like that?

"Doctor, what's going on? I thought you said this was the bloodiest battle of the war. Not that I'm complaining, mind, but it just seems a bit…not that bloody."

The Doctor shook his head, looking sadder than ever. "No, Lucy, something's about to happen. They'll all rest for a short time and then, under the orders of General Robert E. Lee, against the advice of General Longstreet, General Pickett will lead a charge up this very hill against General Meade's men." Lucy found this all very confusing. Too many names to keep straight. In the meantime, she wanted to do something productive and useful. She spotted her opportunity not ten meters away. There was a lone boy in grey lying on the ground. She did not hesitate and started walking toward him. As she got closer, she could make out the bullet wound in his abdomen. His left hand, streaked with blood, was resting on top of his chest, which was barely rising and falling and his right was at his side. She heard his ragged breath as she knelt down to him.

He turned his face to her and Lucy thought he was beautiful. Pale skin with darkish hair and eyes that were probably grey-green. Even mud and blood stained as he was; there was something magnificent about him.

"I've died at last," he said, "I must have because there's an angel come to take me to my Lord." Lucy smiled softly at him and said,

"What's your name? I'm Lucy and I'm not an angel. But I am here to help." The solider looked disappointed. Did he really want so to die? She knew she didn't need to ask him that.

"I'm Elijah Bruin, m'am."

"Is there anything I can do for you, Elijah?"

"Here, give him this." said an unknown voice above Lucy's head. She looked up and saw a man in a blue uniform handing her a canteen. She looked confused for a moment, and then at the Doctor, who stood, only one meter away from her. He nodded and Lucy held up the dying boy's head and gave him a drink from the canteen. When he had finished and she had set his head gently on her lap, she looked up at the Union soldier.

"I don't understand. You're on different sides. Why would you want to help him?"

"He's human, m'am. He's fighting for something he believes in, just like I am. I can't think of anything nobler than that."

"How about not fighting in the first place?" was Lucy's response. The Union soldier did not answer her, but knelt down beside her and rested his hand on the dying man's shoulder. Lucy could feel the Doctor's eyes on the top of her head and she looked up at him. Her eyes were filling with tears and she absently stroked Elijah's cheek. The Union soldier was speaking to him.

"What company are you, man? Where was your first shot fired?" Lucy thought these might be commonly asked questions.

Elijah was struggling to speak and didn't look like he'd last long. When he did speak, a small trickle of blood started from the corner of his mouth. "Bull Run. Virginia, s-seventh…"

"Ssh, don't try to talk." Lucy said, trying to sound like a soothing mother. She cast a somewhat reproachful glance at the Union soldier. She could think of better questions than, "What company are you from?"

"Elijah, listen, just, just…here, just squeeze my hand if it hurts." She offered him her hand, somewhat frantically and his right hand reached up and took hers. He gave her one feeble tug and then let go. His eyelids were fluttering and Lucy knew he was not long for this world. She felt the Doctor's hand on her own shoulder and knew that he was imploring her to leave. To not watch the rest of this battle. But she looked up at him and shook her head, finally letting the tears fall that she had fought so hard to keep barricaded inside her. And when she looked back down at the man whose head she held in her lap, she saw that he had died. She was horrified for one brief moment; his blank eyes that could no longer see _staring _at her. Silently, she closed them and wiped at her own tears. Ever so softly, like the echo of a ghost, she heard singing. "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on." It was the Union soldier. "Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on." His deep baritone voice could not have been more perfect this day. The Union soldier motioned for Lucy to stand. She did, setting Elijah's head carefully upon the ground. Lucy herself retreated into the comforting arm of the Doctor. The two of them stood, watching from the relative protection of a tree Lucy couldn't identify, as the Union soldier picked Elijah up and walked with him in his arms to Rebel lines. Lucy thought surely that he would die, be killed, blamed for Elijah's death. But as he walked resolutely toward his enemies, Lucy thought that maybe for this moment, they weren't enemies after all. In fact, the Rebels seemed almost to salute him as he carried their comrade to them. An officer strode forward and took Elijah from the Yankee. The Yank then offered a salute, standing erect, bayonet at his side. The officer nodded and all the Rebels let the Yankee leave, back up the hill. As he passed by them, he dipped his hat to Lucy and the Doctor, both of whom nodded solemnly.

Several other Yankees had watched this whole exchange and were looking at the two out-of-place travelers with wonder. They did not remember the people of Fal. Their battle would go on, maybe not fueled by rage and hatred but instead by respect and honour. Maybe. Lucy heard the readying of cannons and the loading of rifles. Pickett's charge, as the Doctor had explained it to her, was about to begin.

And there, in the dying day, came the swell of bodies, all yelling, shouting their pride. The Rebel army was pressing towards the Union, but the Union was ready. The Confederates were outnumbered. The one Yank's respect for the Confederacy was being eclipsed by gunshot and cannon fire. Lucy found herself with tears afresh and thought she even saw one sparkling in the Doctor's eye. The Rebels never made it up the hill. Even after almost all of them were dead, the Union fired on. While the shots were still raging on, so that he would not be heard, save by Lucy, the Doctor uttered a speech that had not yet been crafted.

"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers' brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here, to the unfinished work which they have thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth."

Lucy wiped a tear from here eye. The sheer power of that speech. And Lincoln thought that no one would remember it? Lucy turned to the Doctor and said, "I think we can go now."

As they walked back to the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy asked to hear more about President Lincoln.

"He was the first American president to initiate the national holiday of Thanksgiving. He was also the first president to not only hold an election in the midst of a civil war, but win said election. Furthermore, he was the first American president to be assassinated. I was in the theatre that day, you know. The British comedy _Our American Cousin_ was playing and I was in the front row. Much too far away to do anything about Mr. Lincoln. He was very humble. People often mistake his words, not in the Gettysburg address, but at other times. He said he would do anything to preserve the nation. Not that he supported slavery, quite the opposite. But he said that if the end of slavery or the continuation of it would preserve the Union, he would do it. 'A house divided against its self cannot stand.' Great man, Mr. Lincoln. The thing about the Civil War is that it really was the test, the proof of the Revolutionary War against Britain. America had already made history by succeeding in their revolution. Now they had to prove that their government, their ideals, could actually work."

"I understand it all, Doctor. But when you're out here, actually on the battlefields, it's different. You see the people who are actually fighting and dying for what they believe. What just happened on that field was a great symbol, yes. But it's also just men, boys even, killing each other. The Union wouldn't stop firing. But then you get those few glorious moments like that Yank taking Elijah back to his company. How do they do this?" Instead of answering her, the Doctor gave her a look which she took to mean,

"Now you get it. These questions and all wars in fact, are far too ambiguous." She nodded without his saying a word and they were back inside the T.A.R.D.I.S.

The Doctor had seen a lot today. Lucy had been moved by the power of the war and so had he. He'd watched as she cradled a dying man, comforting him in his last moments. She hated war, but she understood it. She'd hoped for a better outcome, but knew that what was better for those individual soldiers was not better for the whole. And at the same time, she grieved for those individual soldiers. From the window of his beloved ship, the Doctor could see six far off points of light falling from the sky. He'd wager it was the ships of the people of Fal. They had counted on merciless bloodshed to fuel them. Had one soldier's act of kindness prevented their going home? Perhaps, but not likely. Maybe, they'd misinterpreted this was altogether. He thought that more likely. The people of Fal had thought that, to kill one's own neighbours and family must mean hatred. But these people were good men. And that was all that mattered. Lucy was sitting on the railing, smiling a bit wistfully. Her storm blue eyes were filled with so many things. What secrets, what unknown potential lurked inside her? Perhaps that was the same thought she had when looking into his eyes. How he loved her. He tried not to think of it, but did so constantly.

And as for her survival? These abilities that so many people hinted at but never stated flat out? Lucy had told him some of what the Life Matter had thought telepathically to her. But not all, he thought. Maybe this change she mentioned wouldn't be so bad. But maybe it meant the end of her life. He was fairly certain that the end of her life would be nothing short of a complete catastrophe.

He could feel her eyes on him, wondering where they'd go next. "I almost forgot, Lucy. I was supposed to show you the Medusa Cascade. Do you fancy a trip there now?"

Lucy positively squealed with delight and bounced gracefully from the railing to the controls where he stood. She placed her hand on top of his and they smiled at each other as he whisked them away.


	22. Angel

"Okay, to stall her, you'll want to twist that knob there- Good God, no, not that one! Blimey, Lucy, you'll kill us. Yes, that one then. And then bang that panel there three times with a hammer whilst pushing that button and holding down."

"Do I really have to bang this with a hammer?"

"No, really I just wanted to see if you'd do it, and you did! So, that gave me a laugh."

"Stupid git." Lucy muttered under her breath. Still, she couldn't begrudge him a thing. He was helping her fly the T.A.R.D.I.S. and taking her to the Medusa Cascade. He had forgotten, or delayed, she didn't know which, taking her here and they'd ended up at the Battle of Gettysburg. Lucy was still somewhat reeling from that. She'd been so distraught over Elijah Bruin's death that she hadn't seen the People of Fal falling from the sky. The Doctor had suspected that maybe they'd underestimated the meaning of that particular war.

"Doctor, you've been talking about the Medusa Cascade for ages, but we always manage to not go there, save this time. Why is that?"

The Doctor frowned and a very pained look crossed his face. "Lucy, this is the closest I've been to where Gallifrey used to be in a long, long while. Gallifrey was just beyond here and it…well, it hurts. I can remember them all, Lucy, my family, my friends. And now I'm the only one. Did I ever tell you about the Master?"

Lucy shook her head, not wanting to say a single word, not wanting to disturb his resolve to actually open up to her.

"The Master was a Time Lord, like me, and a while ago, he came back. The Face of Bo, I told you about him, he told me that I wasn't alone. He meant the Master, and the Master was bad news. He turned the T.A.R.D.I.S. into a Paradox Machine and sent these beings, which were really humans, back in time to kill all the humans and take over. Well, then his wife killed him and I cremated him. So I'm all alone. Again. And this is so close to home."

Lucy couldn't even nod. She just stared at him. He'd lost so much. What right had she to complain about her past, when his was so much bloodier, so much darker? But he looked up at her and smiled and she knew that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"So, here we are then." He said, looking out the tiny window. He pushed a few more buttons as Lucy had stepped away from the controls and the doors opened. He'd done this trick before, but it never ceased to amaze her. She could look out at space, at nothing, at everything, and not be consumed. She'd watched the Northern Lights this way, had watched two galaxies colliding. And they were nothing compared to this. She was surrounded by mist and dust and stars and light. A thousand colours she didn't have names for danced round her. She could almost taste the dust outside. And once again, it was like nothing she'd ever known. Lucy took a deep breath and sat down at the edge of the ship. This was spectacular. She couldn't imagine a better view than this. There simply could be nothing greater.

She felt the Doctor standing by her, his shin against her back, leaning so that he wasn't too close to her. Lucy felt a shiver up her spine and tried to convince herself that he couldn't feel it too. He'd done this for her. He'd taken her back; to the closest to home he'd been in a long time and showed her _this. _

The Doctor felt his hearts beating out of sync. The left one was beating slower because he was so close to where home had been. He was trying so hard not to let it all in, not to let memories come flooding back. Fat chance of that. The right one was beating unusually fast; Lucy was so close to him. The tiny girl's head did not even come up to his mid thigh when she was sitting and he standing. She had been appreciatively quiet when he was talking about Gallifrey. And now she was awed by the sight that had first captured his interest in the universe. Then out of nowhere, a soft _plink _came from Lucy's pocket.

"What was that?"

"Oh, that's my mobile. It's Juliet, something must be wrong." And in one swift, graceful movement, Lucy was standing and checkingher phone.

"She just says we have to come home now, as soon as possible. Doctor, thank you for this but-"

"Not another word, it's nothing. If Juliet says she needs you, she needs you. We're on our way!" He waltzed off to the controls and Lucy knew they'd be there faster if she didn't help.

Half a minute later, Lucy was tearing out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and onto Carnaby Street, London. She wrenched the door open, knowing Juliet would leave it unlocked. "Jules, what's-"

"Lucy, come on, we've got to go!"

"Go where? Jules, what's wrong, you never said!"

"It's the singers, Lucy, they've all gone, haywire, I don't know!"

Juliet was already dragging them back out of the flat, tearing back onto the street and heading north. She was holding Lucy by the wrist and when Lucy stopped walking; Juliet staggered and knew that Lucy was forcing her to explain herself before they went any further.

"Alright, so the whole week leading up to Easter, happy Eater by the way, the cathedral has had these singers, these robotic singers. And they've been singing songs, you know the drill, but…but they've changed. Every now and then, they say odd things, and, just now, earlier this morning, they killed the bishop!"

"Hang on, Jules. What have you been going to church for?"

"I'm playing organ for them, just for a while. And anyway, that's not the point. A man's died, Lucy!" Lucy knew better than to argue with her twin by now and so the twins and the Doctor headed off to Saint Luke's Cathedral.

When they got there, a few police cars were hanging about, and some distraught nuns. Lucy and Juliet had enough residual awareness to cross themselves as they entered, but the Doctor would put on no pretenses.

The church was deathly silent and Lucy felt a chill go up her spine. She had never been one for religion. But this was just…oppressive, this silence. A gaggle of people were surrounding what Lucy took to be the possessed robotic singers. There were five of them, three male and two female. They all had angelic faces with serene expressions. Their hands were folded as if in prayer, their eyes closed in solemnity, heads tilted down slightly. They seemed all to be made of plastic, even the robes they wore. Halos stuck to their heads via two golden prongs and the halos themselves were catching the light from the stained-glass windows.

"I've seen this lot before, or at least versions of them." The Doctor said, perplexed. Lucy and Juliet threw him imploring looks, hoping he could solve this without too much fuss. They had reached the back of the small crowd by now and were listening to their conversation.

"One of these, I think the bloke in the middle just took his halo off and killed the bishop! In the middle of mass, no less. And the organist, she just ran off down the street, well, they were nearest her, weren't they?"

"Who could do such a thing?"

"Well what do you mean, Sister Mary Catherine, they're not real!"

"But someone must have done this. Someone had to have programmed them this way!"

"Well, we'll get it sorted out. Say, you lot! What you doing over there, no hanging about!"

The Doctor then stepped forward. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I believe I can help."

"And who might you be?" The speaker was a stout short man, all ruddy in the face. He looked like he might be permanently agitated and Lucy would have found him comical in other circumstances.

"Well, I'm the Doctor. And these robots, these singers have been programmed by aliens-"

"What blasphemy is this?" squawked Sister Mary Catherine.

"Oh don't give me that, I'm here to help, and if you want it, you'll have to listen. Now, the singers are of alien make. They're just like those robot Father Christmases that were here. The only thing you can do with these blokes is kill them. Smash them dead. So, let's get to work."

As he was speaking, one of the female angels raised her head. Her eyes opened and she focused on Sister Mary Catherine. She didn't say a word, just raised her formally folded hands to her halo and lifted it. She grasped it like a Frisbee and as she let it go, the Doctor shouted, "Get back!" But Sister Mary Catherine was too slow and the halo lodged in her head, knocking her to the ground, quite dead. The surly man yelled and cursed and they all started running toward the back of the cathedral, towards the pulpit. Lucy and Juliet reached it first and both seized candles sticks. They threw the candles out and brandished the long cast-iron prods like swords. The Doctor was standing between them, sonic screwdriver at the ready. The surly man was hiding behind them, utterly useless and the rest of the straggling passerby had bolted out.

"Listen to me! I'm the Doctor and I'm ordering you to stop. On behalf of the Shadow Proclamation…no, the, the order of Max Capricorn, no you're not affiliated with him, are you? Just, just stop! System Override, one!"

The angels ignored him, ever silent and pressed on, all having drawn their halos. As they threw them, Lucy and Juliet batted them away. The angles reached out their hands and made as if to strangle the group. Lucy was the first to strike, brining the candlestick down hard of the foremost angel's would-be skull. It staggered, and then came back toward her. Lucy turned the candlestick, pointy end facing out and stabbed the robot in the eye. It crumpled and looking over, Lucy saw that Juliet had done the same thing to her angel.

The other three seemed to have gotten wise and were backing away, retrieving their halos. Two men and one woman were left. But the Doctor was cooking something up, Lucy could tell.

"Come on, I've used this trick before, and it's bound to work again. Well, it has to, because I have no other ideas. Juliet, do us a favour and go play the organ loud as you can."

"What?"

"Jules, just trust him, if he says it'll work, it'll work." Juliet threw Lucy a doubtful look but headed off for the organ. She set the knobs where they needed to go and played. The first thing that came to mind was Mozart's 25th. The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the base of the organ and the sound amplified by ten. He then pointed it at the handy speakers which crackled with electricity, like they would burst. The noise was deafening and Lucy and the ruddy-faced man were crumpling to the ground, clutching their ears. This was not unlike the time they'd been beset by banshees and the Doctor had amplified the sound of their own screaming to kill them. Lucy knew he must have been referring to a separate incident, however, because he didn't look pointedly at her when he said it. It was agonizing to think all this, with the pain in her head. She couldn't imagine how Juliet felt right there at the source of the noise.

At long last, the remaining angels shook like they were seizing and fell to the floor, once more eyes closed and perfectly benign looking. Juliet stopped playing immediately and her last few notes cut off sharply, making the ensuing silence heavy, loaded. Lucy breathed shakily out and helped up the ruddy-faced man. He tottered off without even saying thank you and blundered down the aisles to the world outside. Juliet got up tenderly from the bench, like she was sore and made her way, ever so gingerly toward them. The Doctor looked at her and said,

"Well done, Juliet, I've never heard a better version of Mozart's 25th!" Juliet gave him a long and sober look and then said in a voice dripping with acid,

"I. Hate. You."

Lucy bit her lip, suppressing the urge to laugh and gave her twin a fierce hug. Juliet had a strange look in her eye and was somewhat stiff. She barely hugged Lucy back. Lucy knew there was something wrong, and it had to do with the Doctor. Juliet even went so far as to look darkly at him as he started walking out the door.

"Juliet, what's the matter? I know this isn't just because he damaged your hearing, something's really up." Juliet's dark look came back to her sister and Lucy almost caught her breath. Was she in for a fight?

"Lucy, I know you've said you trust him, but you shouldn't. You're only going to end up hurt. I was looking up Torchwood, cause I remember you mentioning it and I got in contact with a woman called Martha Jones. Yes, I know who she is, and I know you know. Anyway, she had good things to say about him, but I could tell he left scars. No, let me finish, Lucy, I need to say this. Martha's right. The Doctor is like fire and you're about to get burned. But it's worse than that, he ruins people's lives! You get a couple months of bliss and then he takes it all away. He says he really cares about you but-"

"Don't!" Lucy interjected. "Don't you even say it, because you don't know him like I do, you haven't seen what I've seen! Juliet, I'm going to tell you the things I've done, because you need to know. The very first time I met him, he incapacitated my boss. Then we went to China and watched people get slaughtered. Then we liberated a sanctuary base in the wake of a dying sun. New Year's Eve, we sent an alien packing 'cause she was trying to kill all the humans. I've gone to the future and almost been killed several times by varying degrees of horrible people and aliens. My own runway show was sabotaged by aliens. I was imprisoned in my own head by my own dreams. I helped stop a war that had been going on for centuries and I witnessed one that happened over a century ago. And I found a canister of something called Life Matter and it told me I was going to cease to be the person I knew myself as. I don't know if that's already happened, but-"

"Oh, sure it has. Because I sure don't know you now, Lucy. You're this woman, my twin, but you're not even real. You're like him. And I get left behind. How can you talk about all those things and not just cry?"

"But Juliet, don't you see? All those things are worth it because I have him to share them with. He's so alone and he's done more for everyone than they'll ever know. And I get to be a part of that. You could be too, he's already offered."

"Don't think for a second I'd travel with you. I don't know what the Life rubbish is, but it's right. You're not Lucy Blake anymore."

"Don't say that, Jules, of course I'm me. I've changed a lot, but it's mostly for the good. Maybe I'm a bit harder, a bit more jaded, but, but there's also so much hope when you travel with him. You step out of reality and time and you can just exist. It's brilliant. It's the most wonderful thing in the entire universe. It's the happiest moment of your life and the saddest all rolled into one. I used to think like you do, that he'd just leave me, that I wasn't important. And the thing is, even if I'm not, I don't care. Because I don't want to be with anyone else, ever. I love him, Juliet. And I'll love him till the day I die."

Juliet fixed her jaw and Lucy saw what she thought she herself used to look like. Juliet's eyes were so much younger. Her jaw was normally not as firmly set. Her smile was easier, more genuine. They didn't even stand the same anymore. Would anyone walking by at this moment know they were identical twins? Related yes, the resemblance was uncanny, but not twins, not sisters. Lucy felt her heart break for Juliet. What had she done to her? She had, in a way, left her behind. For all her insistence, Juliet had really wanted to stay home and have Lucy with her. There was to be no Doctor in the equation.

A tear spilled down Lucy's face, and then another, and then another. What kind of person was she? Had Juliet said the Doctor was like fire? Then Lucy was too or maybe like ice, so cold. What person would do this to her own flesh and blood? It didn't take long for her to answer that question, not with the things her own father had done. So was she any better than him? Of course, but by how much?

"Lucy, I…I understand how you feel. About the Doctor and about traveling and everything. But, we're the ones who have to move on, like you exist but only sometimes. I have to pretend like everything's okay while I'm worried sick every second because I don't know where you are, or what you're facing. Because I know what life with the Doctor is like, I've traveled with you enough to get the gist."

"Oh, Juliet! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything I've done. I've been a complete git, Jules! I'm so sorry!" Lucy was still crying, had never stopped and Juliet stepped forward to embrace her once more.

"Truce, eh?" Juliet said into Lucy's shoulder. Lucy nodded, her hand on the back of her sister's head.

"Yeah. Sounds good to me."

"Just remember to keep me posted."

"You'll know everything from now on."

"I love you, twin."

"I love you like hell." They walked hand in hand out of the cathedral and back to their flat. It didn't feel like Lucy's flat anymore. The only place that felt like home was the T.A.R.D.I.S. The sisters said goodbye and wiped each other's tears, laughing at themselves. The Doctor was standing in the open doorway, and as Lucy approached him, he cocked his head and said,

"And what was all that, then?"

"That was…..that was. Anyway, everything's cleared up and we're good to go."

"Is Juliet all right?" He looked concerned, not only for Lucy, but for Juliet just as much. Lucy walked over to him, hugged him, which caught him off guard, and said,

"Yes, she's fine. We're all fine." Lucy let go, but the Doctor still held on to the small of her back, lacing his own fingers. Lucy put her hands on his shoulders and looked at him quizzically.

The Doctor thought he would never fully understand Lucy Blake and her twin. But perhaps that was what he loved about her. He let go of her with one hand, aiming the sonic screwdriver at a slot on the control panel. The CD slid into place and the singer's warbling voice undulated into the room. He began to sway and Lucy laughed once, softly and to herself. They didn't talk, just danced. Lucy's head was resting against his chest and his hearts beat slower and faster again. He closed his eyes, felt the words on his lips. _I love you. _But he couldn't say it. Wouldn't. Never mind everything else, what if she didn't love him back? So for now, he would be silent, and they would dance.


	23. Sailing

.com/albums/jj2/egh279/livebannermaker_

Banner courtesy of darkwitch2000. Thanks, mate!

"Nope, I don't care where or when. It could be present day, ten million years from now or 100 years ago, I just wanna go sailing."

"Don't tell me anywhere, cause we'll end up in the Bering Strait during an Ice Age."

"Well all right then, someplace nice. But really, it could be just about anywhere."

"Anywhere it is then." The Doctor said, grinning as he pulled the controls. Lucy had to restrain herself from jumping up and down and hugging him. But she'd wanted to go sailing for so long now. She did wish that Juliet was here with her, but she'd have to settle and she was, of course, grateful.

"Okay, this is really going to be a surprise, so no peaking."

"What, are you gonna cover my eyes and lead me forward, then?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Lucy was about to protest, but the Doctor was already behind her, his hands over her eyes. She laughed and tried not to stumble as he was so much taller than she was and had to take much shorter steps.

"Okay, then Doctor, where are we?"

"I don't know, I haven't opened my eyes yet."

"Doctor!" Lucy shrieked, sure they were about to take a dive off the deck.  
"Only joking, Lucy, only joking, no need to shout. But really, surprise over, we've landed inside a cupboard again."

Lucy felt the Doctor's hands leave her face and she was looking at a closed door only centimeters from her. The Doctor leaned in front of her and graciously opened the door. They stepped outside and-

"Oh, it's perfect! Doctor, just smell the air, you can feel the salt spray and everything! God, this is brilliant!... Where are we?"

"This is the good ship, the S.S. Hugo. I'm guessing that's Victor Hugo, although, maybe not. Anyway, we are sailing 50 miles out from the nearest tip of land in the Atlantic Ocean and headed west, traveling at about 30 knots. And you're sailing, Lucy Blake."

Lucy ran to the railing of the ship, the wind whipping her hair about her as she leaned over the edge. The sun was bright, but she didn't mind. She wondered vaguely if she had dressed for the part. She'd picked the 1940's as a template for her ensemble. She was wearing wide legged-high waist white trousers with a blue and white striped nautical shirt. She'd done her hair in curls and she was wearing patent leather black flats. She knew nautical and she knew 1940's, but with her luck, this was the 20's or something.

A crewmember came striding up to them at this point, and she figured she was at least close to the mark.

"Pardon, but who the hell are you two?" The crewmember was dashing, almost as tall as the Doctor, tanned from sailing.

"Does Mr. Hugo know you're here?" the sailor went on.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Hugo invited us weeks ago. We met at the Club, I'm the Doctor and this is my niece Lucy Blake." The Doctor had pulled out the psychic paper and displayed it for the sailor.

He took one long look at it and said, "Right then. Well, follow me; I'm sure Mr. Hugo would like to have all his guests in one place." The Doctor just beamed and offered his elbow for Lucy.

"Go on then, Doctor, what did the psychic paper tell him?" The Doctor turned the psychic paper over and smiled at it.

"It just says I'm the Doctor and gives my degree from Oxford University." Lucy grinned as they walked toward the bow. Once there, Lucy discovered a jovial sight. A corpulent man, presumably Mr. Hugo, was standing in the centre of a semi-circle. To his left were a man and woman, a rich couple, Lucy thought. The woman was tall and blonde, and looked distinctively vapid. She was the epitome of a trophy wife, smiling and doting on her husband. The man himself looked quite smug, and somewhat like a seedy lawyer. To Mr. Hugo's right were two men in business suits, both Italian looking. Thoughts of the mafia immediately crept into Lucy's head. They all turned when the sailor and the two strangers approached. The two business men and Mr. Hugo all gave Lucy approving looks. The sailor stepped forward and was the picture of graceful servitude, saying, "Presenting the Doctor of the University of Oxford and his niece, Lucy Blake."

Mr. Hugo looked confused for a second, but the Doctor flashed the psychic paper again. With a glance at that, Mr. Hugo looked placated. "Yes, of course. Thank you, Davis." Davis nodded and before he left, the Doctor grabbed him by the arm.

"Tell me, Davis, because I'm an idiot. What year is it?"

"Sir?"

"Oh, you heard me, what year is it?"

"It's the year of our Lord, 1947, sir."

"Thank you, Davis." The Doctor let go of his arm and let him walk off, looking somewhat confused. Mr. Hugo invited Lucy and the Doctor into his little semi-circle and said,

"Forgive me for not recongnising you, Doctor Blake, I-"

"Oh no, it's just the Doctor. My niece is the only who goes by Blake."

"Yes, of course, forgive me, Doctor. At any rate, you all know why I've invited you here. One week ago I scattered the ashes of my dear, departed Margot in the whirlpool. It is said that if one returns a week after leaving the remains of his loved one, he will be granted a great gift. Well, my Margot always wanted to be put to rest here and now I've invited you all to see if the legends are true. Cheers, mates."

Mr. Hugo's guests all raised the glasses they held, toasting their friend. Mr. Hugo nodded and said something about checking on the course. As soon as he left, his guests swarmed on Lucy and the Doctor.

"Pleased to meet you, sir and lady. I'm Cooper Callow and this is my lovely wife Anne. What exactly are you a Doctor of, Doctor? Because I've got this nasty-"

"Everything, you could say, but come on then, it's a holiday, isn't it? Let's all just relax."

The two business men gave each other a look but then turned back to Lucy and the Doctor. Addressing the latter, the one on the left said, "I am Simon Gavazzi and this is my twin brother, Michael. We have known Mr. Hugo all our lives but we have never seen you two before."

"Did you hear that, Doctor, they're twins too, just like me." Lucy said quickly, trying to steer the conversation away from where it was headed. She was met with success.

"And where is your twin, Miss Blake? Was she not invited?" Michael Gavazzi asked.

"Oh, no, it's not that. Juliet, er, she's at home. Doesn't fancy the sea." The Gavazzi brothers nodded simultaneously and Lucy couldn't help but feel an unpleasant shiver go up her spine.

"Tell me," said the Doctor, "because we've been away for a while. What happened to poor Mrs. Margot Hugo?"

Anne Callow spoke up now. "Poor thing died of heart attack. I always said she would, God rest her soul. She'd been going on for weeks and weeks about-"

"Now, now, darling, let's have none of that. The Doctor doesn't want to hear about those sorts of things." Mr. Callow chastised his wife.

"Oh, but the Doctor does. Go on, Anne, tell me what Margot said."

Anne looked sheepish and cast a half-frightened look at her husband. "Well, for weeks and weeks she was going on about the sea. She kept saying she'd end up in the whirlpool. Now, Mr. Hugo heard her and thought that she was telling him where she wanted her ashes scattered when she died, God rest her. But she looked so frightened; I think she was trying to ask for help. She said, and I was the last person to talk to her before her heart gave out, she said, 'There's something in the whirlpool. Something dark and dangerous and old. And it can only kill.'" Anne Callow's voice was hushed and every ear was tuned to what she said. The Doctor and Lucy exchanged dark glances and the Doctor said,

"Did she say what sort of thing was in the whirlpool?"

"Oh come on then!" shouted Mr. Callow. "It's not real, this thing. Margot Hugo was off her nut!" Just then, several things happened all at once.

Mr. Hugo came up from below; opening his mouth wide, presumably to tell them all something. But he stopped in his tracks when he saw what the rest of them did.

The sky was clouding over and the clouds crashing together. The waves were roiling beneath them, tossing the ship back and forth in an increasingly violent manner. Larger waves were building up not far from them, threatening to crash over the railing, damage the hull, sweep them away, sink them, or any combination of those unpleasant things.

The crew had all come up from wherever they'd been previously, looking at everything, mouths open, unused to anything like this in all their sea voyages.

And lastly, a huge tentacle over fifty feet long shot out from the depths of the ocean and snatched Mr. Callow from the deck of the ship. Anne rushed to the railing as her husband was pulled screaming below the surface and two sailors had to restrain her to keep her from jumping in after him. She clutched one of them, sobbing. Lucy could see where Mr. Callow had disappeared and found a great whirlpool much closer than she would have liked.

Mr. Hugo grabbed the nearest sailor and said, "Quickly now, we need to slow down and turn round. Trim all the sails, I want them completely in. That means all three sheets out of the winches. We stop first and then turn round. I need every hand on deck!" Lucy admired how efficient Mr. Hugo was, she had taken him for some kind of blundering oaf. She watched as six sailors, two to each sail released the sails from the winches. The mainsail, the one in the middle, stuck, however. Before the sailors could get up to free it, two more tentacles shot out of the watery abyss and grabbed the two unlucky sailors, pulling them below. Several more sailors ran off deck to get weapons.

A storm had really started now and Lucy looked to the Doctor for guidance.

"We can't just leave them!" Lucy said. The Doctor nodded and had to grab hold of Lucy as a giant wave came crashing down around their ears. In her panic, Lucy hadn't even seen it coming. She held tight to the Doctor as the ship rocked back and forth. She was sure it would capsize. The three sailors who had left to get weapons were back. Two of them were swept overboard by another giant wave. The third was snatched up by a hateful tentacle and dragged underwater.

"I'd say those waves are over five meters high! And the wind has got to be at about 50 knots!" the Doctor shouted over the roar that was crashing wave and howling wind. The Gavazzi brother had pulled out pistols and were shooting at tentacles as they came up. They didn't seem to be doing any real damage, just angering the beast. The Doctor seemed to share Lucy's thought. He ran up to them, still holding Lucy close to his side. "You're only making it angry! We should get as far back as possible. Maybe against the cabin and let the sailors handle it!"

"Fat chance, Doctor. We make our own luck and we're gonna kill this good for nothing squid." Michael Gavazzi said. No sooner had he made his bold prediction than a large tentacle coiled around his middle. He cast a horrified look at his brother, Simon and screamed as he was thrown into the water. Simon Gavazzi wasted no time, and dove in after his brother, apparently trying to rescue him from a giant squid and a whirlpool. Lucy looked round. Anne Callow was already being held by the wall of the cabin by two sailors and Mr. Hugo. There was only one sailor left trying to free the mainsail so they could stop on their collision course towards a giant whirlpool. Lucy and the Doctor both huddled against the cabin and said,

"You know, this is not unlike Greek mythology. Odysseus had to sail through the Strait of Messina, between a giant sea monster called Scylla and a giant whirlpool called Charybdis."

"Fascinating, Doctor, but they're not making any headway with that mainsail." said Lucy. She freed herself from the Doctor's grip and ran quite swiftly to the lone sailor. "Tell me what I can do to help!' she shouted at him and saw that it was Davis.

"A bit of the beam came off in the storm and now the sail is stuck. The only way to free it is to climb all the way up to the Crow's Nest and then climb out onto the sail and pull it up."

'Well that's what I'll do, then." said Lucy. Without any further ado, she set one foot in the netting that would allow her to climb to the Crow's Nest. She ignored the shouted protests from the Doctor and pulled herself higher and higher. She'd always been good at climbing, but it was a bit different in the wind, in a storm, on a moving ship, on an uneasy rope net and with several lives, including her own at stake. She was already more than halfway and she had to keep reminding herself not to look down.

Lucy finally reached the Crow's Nest and hoisted herself inside. She allowed herself only half a second to breathe before starting to climb out onto the sail. This was where her dance training would come in handy. She crawled, hands and knees for a few steps and then a gust of wind threatened to blow her off the ship altogether. She saw the Doctor rush forward to join Davis out of the corner of her eye. She took a deep breath and kept going. She was where she needed to be. Now all she had to do was actually hoist up the sail.

Lucy looked to her left and saw the absolute worst sight. A humongous tentacle was rushing toward her, ready to grab and drown. "LUCY!" she could hear the Doctor scream over the wind and the storm. Lucy hugged the sail support with her knees and wrapped her fists around. Before the tentacle reached her, she swung upside down wrapping her ankles around the support. She felt the tentacle crash on the beam and it caused her hands to slip. She was hanging on only by her knees and her ankles. She tried to focus, first swinging herself backward and then forward several times until-

Aha! She'd swung herself high enough to grab hold of the beam and then swing herself right side up again. She wasted no time in pulling up the sail. Once she had secured it, she used the slack from the rope to repel down to the deck. Davis steadied her rope all the way down and the Doctor caught her in his arms when she finally was there. He hugged her tight and said,

"You were brilliant, you were. Did you know, whirlpools were called maelstroms a while ago? It originates from the mythological story of Grottasongr, who-"

"Ssh." Lucy said, putting a finger to his lips. He looked surprised, but not altogether displeased. He stopped talking, at any rate. They walked back to Mr. Hugo, Mrs. Callow, Davis and the few surviving sailors.

"What happened, Doctor? Surely you can make sense of all this?" Mr. Hugo implored, looking desperate.

"I think your wife may have had some psychic abilities, dormant in her until just before her death. Perhaps she had dreams of the giant monster in the whirlpool killing everyone. She talked to Mrs. Callow about it. Mr. Hugo, you thought you were carrying out her last wishes by scattering her ashes here, but this was what she was trying to warn you about. It's not your fault, anyone could have misunderstood. And maybe scattering her ashes was what made the sea monster wake up in the first place, maybe that was the trigger."

"But if scattering her ashes there, if that was the trigger, then she could have just said she wanted to be buried." Offered Davis.

"Well that's just it, she tried. She tried to warn Mrs. Callow and her husband." said the Doctor.

"So is it premonition or paradox?" asked Lucy.

The Doctor turned to her and grinned. "Guess we'll never know. It could be a little bit of both; it's all mind-boggling at any rate. Now if you'll excuse us, Mr. Hugo, Lucy and I really should be going."

"Of course, Doctor, we'll arrange to head home straight away, I think we all need a good rest."

"Oh no need, Mr. Hugo, Lucy and I have our own means of transportation." Mr. Hugo, and everyone else for that matter all looked confused but said nothing as the Doctor and Lucy Blake headed starboard and then walked toward the stern, where they had come.

Back inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. and away from the ocean and the S.S. Hugo, Lucy and the Doctor were thinking and plotting their next move.

"What do you think was really down there, Doctor? Did you mean it about Margot having a premonition?"

"I'm not sure about either, Lucy. People will always surprise me."

"Do you think it was extra-terrestrial, thought, that monster thing?"

"No, it was definitely from Earth, I'm positive. Margot said, in her ramblings, that it was old. But, we're safe, you were brilliant and you even got to sail. So, where to next, Lucy?"

"Where indeed?" she said softly, smiling.


	24. Wedding

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Lucy had to concentrate. This would not be easy. Her pride and her integrity were at stake. She could not afford to fail. The Doctor was winning so far, but Lucy's cards were good.

Lucy and the Doctor had opted for a quiet afternoon in the T.A.R.D.I.S. They were orbiting the Earth somewhere over Africa, or at least they had been last time he'd checked. For the last half hour, Texas Holdem had been dominating their thoughts. The Doctor had won three hands and Lucy, two. She had to win this one. They'd be tied, but at least her reputation would be intact. She'd been bragging about all the times she and Juliet and their mates had played and how often she'd won. She hadn't counted on the Doctor being brilliant at this too. She had pocket Aces and thought her odds good when the Flop turned up a third Ace. The Turn had brought her a useless seven, but now it was time for the River. The Doctor burned a card and dealt the River. Lucy concentrated very hard on not moving a muscle. The Doctor could read her so well, that was how she'd lost the others hands. But there on the table was the last Ace. Very little could beat her now. There was no way the Doctor had a Royal Flush, so unless he had a Straight Flush, she had won. He placed his bet, going all in. Damn. Perhaps he did have the Straight Flush. Or…perhaps he was bluffing, Lucy thought. She went all in as well and the Doctor raised one eyebrow.

Lucy looked at him from under her eyelashes and said, "Four of a kind, mate." She practically held her breath. Then the Doctor turned over his cards revealing an eight of hearts and a Jack of Clubs. "I was bluffing the whole time, well done, Lucy."

"Prat." Lucy muttered under her breath as she raked in her chips. Of course, they hadn't actually wagered anything. This was strictly for bragging rights. "Looks like we're tied then." She said and he nodded sagely.

"So the world will never know who the better poker player is." The Doctor said ominously. Lucy rolled her eyes and stood to stretch. From across the room, Lucy's mobile started ringing. It could only be Juliet. The last time they had spoken over the phone, Juliet had told Lucy that she'd been officially fired from Thoreau Threads. Apparently, after her show, the company had taken quite a downturn, and in her prolonged absence, they blamed Lucy. Lucy didn't care one whit. She loved designing, but she was working for corporate London, indulging in commercialism and superficiality, all while being grossly underpaid, underappreciated and overworked. She had fallen out with several of her mates because she was gone for so long, but she found that she didn't miss them all that much. They had always been more Juliet's friends than anything else. So that left only Juliet, and as Lucy bounded gracefully across the room, she found she was right.

"What's up, Jules?" Lucy was concerned. Usually, when Juliet called, it was bad news.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten, twin."

"That depends. What's to forget?" Lucy suppressed a smile.

"Lucy! It's Calista's wedding today! It starts in an hour!"

"Oh, fat Christ, I completely forgot! Don't worry, I'm on my way, we'll be there in half a minute!" She hung up the phone without saying a proper goodbye. She had forgotten that the other thing they'd talked about last was their childhood friend, Calista, who was getting married. "Doctor, have you still got that tux? We're gonna need it."

"Er…yes, why?" the Doctor was suspicious of black tie events. Lucy didn't blame him, she hated weddings. But she owed this to Calista.

"My old mate, Calista is getting married today, in an hour, actually and I totally forgot that I was invited. Plus one, of course." She winked to him. The Doctor, she could tell, was suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. Wordlessly, he walked off to find his tuxedo. Lucy breathed a huge sigh of relief. She knew he wouldn't say no, but something was already setting her on edge.

She rushed to her room and into her huge walk-in closet. What to wear to a wedding. She selected another garment she'd made herself and hid the dress bag in her oversized green snakeskin (faux) tote. She also put in shoes and a small black leather clutch she could use instead of the tote. When she came out with her overfull bag, the Doctor had already changed into his tux.

"Why exactly am I wearing a tux to a wedding, when I'm not in the wedding party?"

"Calista is from old money, and so is her fiancé, I'd wager. They'll expect it." The Doctor nodded and asked Lucy for their destination.

"Aren't we going to my flat, then?" she asked.

"Well, I thought maybe we could just go right to the location."

"You're not gonna like it. They're getting married on a yacht."

"Brilliant." The Doctor said, half sarcastically. They'd only barely escaped their last sea caper. Now they were in for another.

Once aboard her friend's yacht, the _Endeavour, _Lucy was able to change in a bathroom after greeting her sister, who was a bridesmaid.

"I thought it was a bit rude of her to not ask you to be a bridesmaid, but-"

"Nonsense, Juliet, I've kind of been off the planet for a while. Anyway, I've seen you now, so you can go ahead, I'm just gonna change and I'll see you at the reception."

"Well, wait, what are you wearing, so I'll know how to find you."

"Relax, Juliet. I'll be the one who looks just like you." Juliet only smiled and walked away as the Doctor chuckled to himself. Juliet had greeted the Doctor warmly, hugging him. Their last meeting had ended somewhat frostily but the twins had made up their differences. Lucy ducked inside the bathroom and to her relief, found it empty. She slipped off the jeans and pink and black striped long sleeved shirt. Out of her oversized tote, she pulled the dress she had made. It was floor length and deep emerald green. It had a halter top, the bodice completely ruched, and a slit up to the right knee. The straps of the halter had tiny embroidered light green glass beads on them. The ruched bodice had light green sequins sewed on in scattered places, giving the bodice a dual tonal affect. She slipped on her shoes, green strappy stilettos with black trim and did a quick job with her hair. Lucy pulled it up into a bun and pulled down a few wispy strands. She hooked the clutch's strap round her wrist and left with her old clothes stuffed into the tote. Once she approached the T.A.R.D.I.S., which the Doctor was leaning against, he spied her and stood up straight, fixing his tie. Lucy smirked and stashed her bag inside the door.

"Do I pass inspection then?" she asked. The Doctor cleared his throat and mumbled under his breath for a moment. Lucy in turn had to fight the urge to gawk at him in his tux. He sure cleaned up nice.

"You know, I thought it was rude to look better than the bride at a wedding."

"Doctor, you haven't even seen the bride yet."

"Doesn't matter." He said, offering her his arm. She beamed at him and they walked arm in arm to the deck where the ceremony was to be held.

They took their seats in the back row; the only spots left, and braced themselves for a long ride. The priest came out of a stateroom and addressed the congregation. The music started playing and there came Juliet first, leading the line of six bridesmaids, including the maid of honour, Calista's sister Anne Margaret. Lucy smiled at Calista as she approached, but Calista made no motion, gave no sign that she even knew Lucy. She didn't even look at her. Lucy knew she had changed, but that much? Slightly put off, she turned back toward the priest and noticed something.

"Say, Doctor, look at the priest. Look at his eyes. They're gold. I mean, they're not just yellow-brown or even orange, they're gold!"

"They certainly are. That priest isn't human. Those eyes are real gold. That doesn't exactly narrow down what he is though, there are about seventeen different species with true gold eyes."

"You're telling me his eyes are actually made of gold?" Lucy asked, incredulous. She had seen a lot of crazy things, but this was just random. "Well, what are some of those things he could be?"

"Well, I've narrowed it down to about six. He could be Valivespian, a Warlog, a shape-shifter, a-"

Just then, in the middle of the ceremony, the priest stopped talking. He glanced around the deck. Everyone began stirring, wondering what could possibly be wrong. The Doctor frowned and said, "I know what he is. Most species with gold eyes like that are relatively benign. Two aren't, and one of them, the Valivespians are unaware of humans, as far as I know. He's a shape-shifter."

"And what do shape-shifter's do, other than…shift shapes?"

"They feed. And for the father over there, that means he's chosen this venue as his next meal."

"He's going to eat us."

"He's going to try. Because, you see, when a shape shifter feeds, he doesn't exactly eat. He takes your essence, the very thing that makes you, you, and sucks it dry. For example, the priest, whoever he was, is dead. The shape-shifter had already got to him." Lucy clapped a hand to her mouth and resisted vomiting. This was going to be horrible.

The priest, up at the bow of the boat opened his mouth wide, staring at Calista's old aunt. A jet of gold dust shot out of his mouth and latched onto Aunt Agnes. The priest's body fell to the floor, boneless, like it had been a suit. Aunt Agnes stood as everyone began screaming and running about the ship. Now Agnes' eyes were glowing gold and Calista was pleading for her to stop. Lucy ran toward Calista and grabbed her wrist as she was saying,

"Aunt Agnes, I don't understand! Stop this, come back! Aunt Agnes? Please, let me help, come on!" Aunt Agnes turned round to face Lucy and Calista and Lucy said, "There's nothing we can do, Calista, she's gone." The Doctor was running forward too and he ushered them to come with him.

They dashed into a stateroom in the middle of the deck. Calista turned to Lucy and then recognition struck her face. "My god, Lucy Blake, it's you! Where have you been all this time? I'd have asked you to be a bridesmaid along with Juliet—"

"Not to worry, Calista, I sort of dropped off the planet, you know? And congratulations, you look beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you, Zachary is just great. You look smashing too, I might say, where'd you get that dress?"

"It's a Blake original actually."

"I thought it might be I saw your show, congratulations to that." Lucy was about to thank her when the Doctor said,

"Well, it's been lovely catching up, but I think the shape-shifter is ready for another meal." The Doctor was peeking out the door and saw that Aunt Agnes had already been discarded. A short, thin man was walking in the decidedly liquid manner of the shape-shifters. The Doctor knew that it took some time for the shape-shifters to absorb their meal. They'd latch on to their prey via the gold dust and learn about them first, already inside their head. Then they'd consume everything about the person, finally their organs, tissue, muscle, bones, etc. It wasn't pleasant. The true form of the shape shifter was unknown, although the Time Lords had some good hunches. They were like shadows, without true form, without real substance, but still a corporeal projection of life. He had some ideas about stopping this one, but it would be tricky.

"Okay, Lucy, Calista, I have an idea about how to stop the shape-shifter before it gets anyone else. We'll have to trap it in an empty room. They feed on their host, but eventually, there's nothing left and they have to move on. With no one else to latch onto, it will starve."

"We're going to kill it?" Lucy asked, sounding almost remorseful. The Doctor loved her capacity to feel even for that which would kill her.

"There's no other way, Lucy, it will kill us all, there's no way of stopping it." She just nodded and stood up a little straighter. "Okay," the Doctor went on, "We have to completely seal this room, cake the window with something, stop it from escaping. Once we get it inside, we'll have to find a way to stop up the door, and quickly. No cracks, no room for error. So let's look in here and seal up this window first." Lucy and Calista immediately set about the state room. It hadn't been used in a long time. Lucy was looking in drawers and under the bed while Calista made for the closet.

"I think I've got something!" Calista shouted. The Doctor and Lucy looked up. Calista was holding up a jar of spackling. Lucy looked round and saw a patch in the wall that was slightly darker than the rest of it. No doubt that jar of spackling had come in handy just as it was about to now. The Doctor took the jar from Calista, saying, "Thank you!" Lucy was about to hand him something to spread it round with, but he already had the jar open and just dipped his hand in. Lucy was rolling her eyes as he gummed up all the cracks in the porthole.

When he was done, he made as if to wipe his hand on his jacket. "No!" Lucy shouted. The Doctor and Calista both looked at her, alarmed. "If you put that rubbish on the jacket, I swear to all that is good, Doctor, I will kill you." The Doctor blinked at her and walked over to the bed. "Sorry, Calista." He said as he wiped his hand on the bedspread. Calista looked only mildly shocked.

"Okay," said the Doctor when he was done. "Now we just have to lure the shape shifter in here and seal him in. This should do nicely again." He held up the spackling.

"How do you lure a shape shifter?" Calista asked.

"Simple, really. You just stand there and look delicious." replied the Doctor. They all left the room and once in the hall, The Doctor shoved Lucy and Calista into another stateroom and shut the door. He locked it with the sonic screwdriver. He would not risk them getting hurt. He could see Lucy glaring and shouting at him furiously through the door's tiny porthole. He smiled and waved at her.

The Doctor then turned down the hall and saw what he needed. The shape shifter, he regretted to see, had claimed another victim. A middle aged woman was advancing toward him now, burnished gold eyes, hungry for Time Lord. The Doctor extended his hands, not all the way out, but flexed his fingers and squared his chest. "Come on, come and get me." He said. This would not be easy. Lure the shape shifter in. Check. Get him, now her, inside without being eaten. Close the door without shape shifter escaping. Gum up door before shape shifter can effectively eat me. Damn. No time to waste thinking though, she was here. She opened her mouth wide and the Doctor shoved her into the room with all his bodily strength. She staggered in and he slammed the door, using his body to close it simultaneously locking it with the screwdriver. He reached up, gumming the top of the door. The shape shifter, depending on when it had taken on this shape could last a little longer. There, top done. He bent down and then laid flat on the floor, gumming up the bottom. He could see the shadow inside moving, bending down to his level. Not much time left and he had only got half the door. Working fast as he could, the Doctor held his breath, hoping that would delay the shape shifter. Just as a gale of gold dust came streaming toward him, he got the lat bit shut.

The Doctor stood, quite relieved. Remembering that Lucy might be more dangerous than a shape shifter, he wiped both his hands on the wall. He breathed a large sigh and held out his left hand, unlocking the door with the screwdriver. Calista and Lucy came bursting out of the door. Calista leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. Her wedding had sort of been wrecked. Lucy only rushed at him, looking absolutely livid. The Doctor thought she might slap him. He braced himself and when he didn't feel the sting of her palm, he opened his eyes and looked right at her.

"You could have been killed. I could have helped."

"You could have been hurt, Lucy-"

"So could you and I could have helped!" The Doctor knew it was no use arguing with her. Instead he held out his arms and invited her in. She looked like she was reconsidering slapping him again, but in the end gave in. He hugged her tight and when he let go Calista was giving them the strangest look.

"Doctor, why don't you go find Juliet, Calista and I have some catching up to do? The Doctor only nodded and walked down the deck towards the stern. Lucy beckoned Calista to one of the many benches on the deck and they sat down in the late afternoon sun. The light affected the water, making it appear almost white. Looking over the edge, Lucy saw dolphins swimming with the boat. "Calista, I'm so sorry about what happened, and today of all days."

"Don't be ridiculous, it wasn't your fault. We'd all be dead if it wasn't for that friend of yours." Lucy nodded, unable to say anything else. The two old friends were silent for a long time. Finally, Lucy said,

"Do you remember when we were small, in ballet class? And sometimes, when me and Juliet stayed over at your house, we'd sneak back over to the dance studio late at night, and we'd climb up onto the roof and just…lie there and watch the skies."

"Yes, I remember. We always talked about going to live in the stars. But you and Juliet always seemed so serious about it. I remember we'd all say that we'd live in the stars together and watch the Earth, and watch all the people and smile at them." Lucy laughed softly, Calista picking on the very point she wanted her to. Lucy looked up and saw the Doctor and Juliet waiting quietly for them to finish, still within earshot, she noticed. "Well, Calista, I feel like I owe this to you, since I've fallen out of touch with you and wasn't even able to get you a proper gift, I'll, I'll make you a dress. Original, one of a kind, just for you. But, but the point is, I found a way to be….closer to those stars we looked at. That man I came with, he's called the Doctor and I travel with him, but in space. And in time, if you could believe it." Lucy looked down at her hands folded in her lap.

"Well of course I believe you, Lucy." Calista said quite soberly. Lucy looked up at her old dear friend. "You're the most honest person I know. And if anyone of us could have done, it would be you." Lucy just smiled and hugged Calista. Lucy waved her sister and the Doctor forward and the four of them walked back toward where the wedding had been started. The Doctor and Juliet had been gathering the guests and most of them were now assembled, just where they had left off. Calista's fiancé Zachary's uncle was an ordained minister and took on the role with pride. Calista and Zachary were married and the reception was held at sunset. As the dancing started, the Doctor smiled and looked expectantly at Lucy. She grinned and placed her left hand on his shoulder. His left encircled her waist and their right hands met. "Do you think we'll ever have a normal date?" the Doctor asked.

Lucy laughed and said, "Normal? I don't think I'd like that." The Doctor pulled her a little closer and she rested her head on his chest. The Doctor leaned down and kissed the top of her head. This was as close to perfect as he thought he could get.


	25. Witch

Lucy awoke for the third time this week drenched in a cold sweat. Since Calista's wedding, she and the Doctor had done a whole lot of nothing. Mostly, they traveled around to different bits of history, touching on all the places Lucy had wanted to see.

At Woodstock, Jimmy Hendrix had thrown her a guitar pick. During the Italian Renaissance, they had seen firsthand the works of Bernini, Botticelli and Da Vinci. They'd heard Gandhi speak in India and then waltzed off to Santorini just for the hell of it. There had been some sad moments, there always were. They'd witnessed the Blitz of WWII. The Doctor had told her about when he'd been there the first time round. They'd also seen civil unrest in Israel. But all that was nothing compared to the nightmares Lucy had been having.

Gone were the dreams of mirrors and doors. Now, she dreamt of clocks that ticked so loudly she thought her eardrums might burst. And there was always this nagging sensation that she was running out of time. But for what? Her dreams took her all over the world, all over the universe, but no matter where she went or what she was doing, she was hard pressed and frantic. And then, at the end of every dream, she heard the Life Matter again, in that voice that was like hers, yet so different. "Life as you know it will change forever." When it had first spoken to her, it had seemed wise and all-knowing. In her dreams, however it seemed foreboding and threatening. Every syllable was like a death sentence. She always woke up with that voice ringing in her ears.

Lucy sat up and rested her elbows on her knees, the heels of her hands pressed into her eye sockets. Rubbing her eyes, she tried to clear the latest images from her mind. No use. She decided to get up and looked over at her table clock. Even real clocks gave her the creeps now. It was 4:35 a.m. Fantastic, she thought.

Rising, Lucy crossed on silent feet to her armoire and opened the doors. She selected a silvery grey dress that came to her knees. Under that, she put on black leggings and around her waist, she buckled a wide black belt. She slid her feet into silver ballet flats and braided her hair to the side. Lucy sighed, looking in the mirror. It held absolutely no horror for her now. Briefly, she touched her reflection, wondering if either one of them was real. Enough, she thought. Lucy collected herself and walked down the dark hallway to the main room of the T.A.R.D.I.S. Empty, yet comforting. Lucy looked wistfully round herself and longed for the Doctor to be up. As if he could read her thoughts, his face appeared in the doorway. She could barely see him in the dark, but could tell that he was smiling and that his hair was standing up in all directions. She smiled back at him and laid her hand on the control panel. Instantly, the ship sprang to life, though still dark and the two of them could feel the lift off and the hurtling through time and space.

Lucy looked up at the Doctor, horrified. What had she done? How could she have done? He stumbled over to her and looked the ship up and down. All the lights were still off, but there was no mistaking it; they were going somewhere.

"How did you do that?" he asked voice quite urgent.

"I've no idea, Doctor. All I did was touch the panel here and it just, I dunno, took off! I was just going to ask you how I did it."

"If you even did do it. Maybe the T.A.R.D.I.S was acting of her own accord. She does that sometimes." Lucy bit her lip, eyes wide. In no time at all, just as suddenly as they had started, they stopped. The ship thudded as it connected to whatever ground was under it. Where ever they were, they had arrived. Lucy and the Doctor looked at each other.

"Well, what do you say, Miss Blake? We're here, we might as well…."

"Investigate?" Lucy asked. The Doctor shot her a crooked grin and dashed to the doors. He was already outside when Lucy collected herself again and followed him.

Outside, it looked as though it should still be half four in the morning. But there were already people up, dressed in 17th century clothing. This looked for all the world like a colonial settlement and Lucy knew she would stand out with what she was wearing. She and the Doctor walked forward. The first house they came upon, there was a woman standing outside with her young daughter. They were talking in hushed voices as they chopped firewood, and the girl, Lucy could tell was fighting back tears. Lucy did not wait for the Doctor, but instead walked straight over to the girl and her mother. They both looked up as the strangers approached. The woman made the sign of the cross and both looked scandalized taking in Lucy's peculiar style. "Sorry," said Lucy, "but I couldn't help but notice that you seemed upset. Is there anything me and my friend can do to help?"

The older woman would say nothing, but the young girl, seventeen by the looks of her said, "It's my friend Mary Driscoll. Last night, they took her away and they're trying her today. She doesn't stand a chance." The poor girl's voice was shaking.

"But what is she being tried for?" Lucy asked, afraid she already knew the answer.

The mother crossed herself again and the girl looked puzzled. She lowered her head and spoke in a hushed voice, "Witchcraft, of course."

"Okay, okay. Can you tell me your name? And, and where we are? My friend and I have been traveling for a long time."

"I'm Louisa Banks, m'am. And this is Salem, Massachusetts."

Lucy reeled, she knew it. The Doctor was at her side in a flash, tugging on her shoulder. Lucy moved aside and he said, "Louisa, I'm the Doctor and I can help. Will you tell me where the meeting house is? And where they're holding Mary?"

Louisa gave a soft sob and pointed down the road, where they would have headed, "The meeting house is at the very end of this street and they're all in there, in the basement. Please, Doctor, can you save her?" The Doctor gave her a sympathetic glance and said,

"I'll do my best." Then he and Lucy were off down the road, fire in their footsteps.

"Doctor?" Lucy asked, "Witches aren't real, are they? I mean, they're not aliens or anything, right?"

"Sort of. There is a race of aliens called Carrionites. They actually started the Salem Witch Trials, but they're long gone by now. They were the real witches, but when it came time for the town to take action, they framed other people. I met them before, in England, but we won't have to deal with them this time."

"Just an ignorant, bloodthirsty town is all." Lucy said darkly. The Doctor nodded and wordlessly, they both quickened their pace.

"When does it end, Doctor? How many have died already?"

"From the feel of the air, it's almost October. That means that the twenty people have already been killed. For all intents and purposes, the Salem Witch Hunt is over. But not completely."

Lucy thought she might be sick. She remembered learning about this in Grammar School. An entire town succumbed to lies and rumours, fueled by dramatic accounts of the "innocent" accusers. Basically, twenty people had died because a couple of girls were bored.

The sun was just beginning to show its head when they reached the end of the street and the meeting house. The sky had already turned a dusty pink fringed with pale gold. The pleasant weather betrayed the oppressive demeanour of the entire town. Looking round, Lucy noticed that she and the Doctor were not the only ones heading toward the meeting house. Pious vultures gathered their children around them, speaking barely above a whisper. Everywhere assurances of guilt, of retribution, of purification echoed in Lucy's ringing ears. She might be sick.

Upon entering the door, Lucy looked up at the Crucifix and wondered what was holy about all this. She and the Doctor took their seat in the very back row, he leading her gently with a hand on the small of her back. The whole settlement was filing in after them; excitement and fear alight in their eyes. All too soon, a menacing looking judge, whom if Lucy remembered correctly was Judge Hathorn, sauntered in. His eyes were sunken and black, his skin sallow, and like aged paper. She wondered if he had ever smiled. She wondered if he thought smiling a sin. He made Lucy want to jump up and start screaming "prophecies" about the future. She wanted to run back to the T.A.R.D.I.S., grab her ipod and blast electronic devil music as loudly as she could. She wanted to run away and leave this place forever. But mostly, she wanted to help, to end the madness.

"Silence." Judge Hathorn called out to the room. His voice was every bit as creepy and decrepit as his appearance. "Bring forth the accused." Through an oaken door to his left came two guards leading a young girl in chains. Lucy saw that like her friend Louisa, Mary Driscoll looked no older than seventeen. Her eyes were red, presumably from crying. She looked as though she had been kept in the dank basement for weeks. Lucy hated to imagine the conditions in which she'd been kept.

Mary took her seat facing the crowd that hated her. All waited with bated breath for the Judge to begin what everyone knew would end in a death sentence.

"Mary Elizabeth Driscoll, aged seventeen, you are brought before this court on 25th September, the Year of Our Lord 1692. You have been accused of witchcraft. Three weeks prior to this date, Goodwife Downs said she saw you spit near her chicken coup and that the next day, all were dead. Having no family, you have been forced to live on your own, working as an apprentice for Lydia Samuels, the weaver. Mrs. Samuels has fallen ill and could not come to the meeting house today, so there is no one to testify for you. Is that correct?"

Mary Driscoll looked as though she might burst into tears then and there. Lucy saw Louisa look back at her and the Doctor with pleading eyes. The Doctor had said he could help. Lucy looked at him. They could claim responsibility and then run away, escape forever. But what was to stop Salem from ever halting its witch hunt? They couldn't trust that history would take its natural course if they intervened.

"Miss Driscoll, is this correct?" Hathorn said again, more severely.

Standing up at the back of the house, Lucy said in a clear voice. "Make her say the Lord's Prayer." Every head turned to look at this loud young woman who dared to speak in the presence of men.

Judge Hathorn turned his eye on Lucy and she felt chilled to the bone. Surely this man had no soul, or if he did, it was buried deep, deep inside.

"And who are you to suggest this?"

"I'm Lucy Blake, sir, a…a certified Witch Hunter and this is the Doctor. Witches can't say the Lord's Prayer, so make her say it. That will prove it once and for all." Lucy remembered hearing something about it, or maybe she'd seen that on the telly. At any rate, it seemed to have worked. As Lucy sat back down, the Doctor leaned in and said,

"Certified Witch Hunter? You could have at least grabbed the psychic paper from me and showed that to him, he's thick enough to trust whatever it says."

"It was the best I could do at the spur of the moment, all right? And anyway, look, it's worked."

Judge Hathorn had just told Mary Driscoll to recite the Lord's Prayer. In a very shaky voice, but with a look of gratitude toward Lucy, she said,

"Our, our Father, who art in Heaven, h-hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as…as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us f-from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever. A-amen." A stunned silence filled the makeshift court as the young girl recited the prayer perfectly. For a moment, even Hathorn didn't know what to do. Mary Driscoll looked round, begging with her eyes to be set free and declared innocent.

When he spoke, his words filled Lucy with cold dread. "I have no choice to but come to the conclusion that Mary Driscoll is indeed a witch." The entire gathering gasped and Mary in fact crumpled to tears there on the stand. Lucy's eyes widened and she looked at the Doctor, shocked. He gave her no answer, but pointed up to Hathorn.

"I declare that the one who calls herself Lucy Blake is also a witch and that her companion is the Devil himself. They must have fed Mary Driscoll the answers through their Black Magic." Lucy's mouth fell open as the town turned to them, fear rampant in their expressions. Wasting no time, she and the Doctor rose. Lucy was about to make for the door, but the Doctor headed instead for the stand. Eyes wide, Lucy watched him pull Mary Driscoll from her chair and dashed with her down the aisle. Where he was met with opposition, Lucy strode forward and spit and the feet of the townspeople. They backed away from her immediately and soon, the three accused were out in the early morning sun. Mary was still crying as she ran beside them. Everyone else had gathered at the door of the meeting house and merely watched them run away. Lucy thought as they ran, that perhaps Hathorn would declare to them that by calling out the Devil, he had banished him and all the witches from the land. It made her want to haunt him.

"Please, sir, where are you taking me?" Mary cried. Lucy pulled on the Doctor's shoulder, telling him to stop. He did and Lucy stepped forward. She took Mary by the hands and said as kindly as she could,

"Mary, my name really is Lucy and this is the Doctor. We're not witches or the Devil, we're help. We're going to take you away, somewhere else where you can start a new life. Is that all right with you, or would you rather stay here?"

"No, no m'am, I'll go with you. Anything to be away from Salem." Lucy nodded and the three of them walked quite easily the rest of the way to the T.A.R.D.I.S. When Mary saw it, she turned to Lucy again for explanation.

"Mary, this is…a ship. But it goes in the sky and it goes very fast. We'll take you in it, it's bigger than it seems and you'll be somewhere else in no time flat. Do you trust me?"

"Of course." Mary offered. Lucy smiled at her and led her by the hand into the doors the Doctor had already opened. Mary marveled at all the metal and bizarre contraptions. When the ship took off, she fell clear to the floor and laughed. Lucy helped her up and just as she had said, they'd landed in no time flat. The Doctor walked ahead of them and opened the doors again.

"Mary Driscoll, this is Virginia. It's beautiful here, everything you could ever want. Start your life over here." He told her. Mary smiled her thanks to him as she walked outside. The air here was less heavy and the sun was climbing. Lucy stood in the doorway with the Doctor, and waved goodbye. Mary had started off on her way when she turned back.

"Lucy!"

"What is it, Mary?"

"It's going to happen soon. Everything you are will be put to the test. I'm going to change my life here. But you are going to change in so many ways, Lucy Blake. I only hope that you survive these trials. Thank you both for everything." Mary Driscoll turned and never looked back.

She had no way to see Lucy's stunned face, the springing of tears to her eyes. She couldn't see the Doctor's frown, couldn't see his eyes filled with worry. There was no way she saw the Doctor put his arm round Lucy and pull her back inside his ship, comforting her. But Lucy thought that she knew anyway.

"Why do all these people keep talking about this, Doctor? Everyone knows something that I don't, and I don't like it! Everywhere I go, people seem to know my destiny, but they don't tell me enough! I keep having dreams about what the Life Matter told me, but in these dreams, they sound like threats."

"I couldn't tell you, Lucy. I don't know any more than you do. I've wondered about it a lot, but I have no answers. I'm sorry." He looked it. His eyes were wide and seemed to be searching frantically for something, for any answer that would ease her fears.

Lucy shook her head and said, "I'm not going to let this interfere with my life, okay? I'm Lucy Blake, and I'm going to stay that way as long as I can." The Doctor looked up at her and grinned.

"Why yes you are."

"I wonder why Hathorn thought you were the devil incarnate. Just convenient, I suppose?"

"Maybe. And the funny thing is, I think we may have put an official end to the Salem Witch Hunt."

"You know, I think I thought the same thing. I thought maybe that Hathorn would tell everyone that he'd banished us and that their troubles were over."

"The power of a crowd is great. If one person starts to believe him, they all will."

"Maybe that's all anybody needs. One person says something about another and then it spreads. Then so many people are saying it, it seems like it's always been true. Rumours spread quickly and grow in scope. People interpret facts to fit their own conclusions. But I love them, Doctor. I love all those people for all their stupidity. Well, okay, I love people individually, but in crowds, they're total gits." The Doctor laughed and the two of them sat down to plot their next adventure. The future could wait, because Lucy was determined to be Lucy. No rumour would get in the way of that.


	26. Art

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"Doctor, I still don't understand!" Lucy pleaded with him. He only held up his hand to silence her and she rolled her eyes at the back of his head.

This morning, she'd been enjoying her piping hot coffee when the Doctor burst into the room, looking harried and said, "Come on, Lucy, we've got to go, it's worse than I thought!" She'd spluttered at him, effectively spilling half the contents of her steaming mug down her shirt. He stared at her and she at him. He suppressed the fit of laughter that was sure to overtake him at any moment and she fought desperately not to fling the rest of the coffee in his face. Silently, Lucy had held up a finger whist glaring at the Doctor. He nodded and backed out of her room, choking sounds of mirth trailing down the hallway after him. Lucy had done her best to dry herself off and changed into a grey graphic T-shirt with neon green, blue and purple roses on it. She set down the dripping mug on the floor. Let it get a ring, she thought.

Lucy had rejoined the Doctor in the main area of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and found that he had had the grace to compose himself. "Where to then, Doctor?" she asked. He said not a word, only manned the controls and they were off.

Upon landing, Lucy had found herself in a future setting of Paris. Having never been to Paris before, she couldn't really make any comparisons to her time and the current year, 2084. They'd landed on a fair expanse of grass being shadowed by the Eiffel Tower. Lucy had only a moment to gaze up at the hulking structure before the Doctor grabbed her wrist and dragged her away.

They'd raced along the streets of Paris, had even taken a cab, Lucy throwing money at the perturbed driver as they dashed out the door before even stopping properly. Lucy knew better than to ask questions when he was like this, but it still irritated her. A million things going on in his mind, constantly she knew, but couldn't he take one second to tell her what was happening?

Lucy Blake could not have been more surprised when they turned up at the Louvre. Looking round, Lucy knew that something was wrong. The popular attraction was completely deserted. She could hear some commotion going on inside and sure enough, that's where they were headed. Two armed guards were at the doors. The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it at them. "John Smith from Scotland Yard, some head mucky-mucks have sent me. And this is my partner, Lucy Blake." Lucy flashed the guards a smile and tried her best to look professional. She had never been very good at that. Composed yes, calm yes, but lacking the rigidity of a nine to five employee; inspector from Scotland Yard notwithstanding. The guards eyed them dubiously, but let them pass through.

Once through the Doctor had made to walk up to a gathering of people. They looked up at the two of them briefly, but Lucy tugged the Doctor back. Now she glared at him with real meaning and he leaned in close to her, the better to give her an answer.

"I got a message on the psychic paper. Told me to come here. It said something about this place, that everything was wrong."

"So that's it, we don't even know what's going on, just that something is 'wrong'?"

"Lucy, a bit of blank psychic paper tells you to come to the biggest art museum in the world, stating that everything is wrong, and what are you gonna do? That is enigmatic at its best, that is. Besides, you know me, couldn't resist, could I?" Lucy only grinned cheekily at him and tucked her hands in her coat pocket as she and the Doctor headed for the gaggle of people. She was grateful that she had at least donned a professional looking black duster.

"Hello there!" called the Doctor cheerfully. The crowd looked up at him and Lucy, varying degrees of shock, confusion and annoyance. "I'm Detective Inspector John Smith from Scotland Yard, and this is my partner, Lucy Blake. Somebody wanna tell me what's going on here, then?"

He was met with a half a dozen blank stares. In a loose huddle stood three men and three women. A tall, overfed, stuffy looking professor type looked down the bridge of his nose at the Doctor. Next to him was a docent in her red jacket. She was very small, shorter than Lucy and had dark brown hair and soft green eyes. Her eyes were slightly red, as though she had been crying. Standing with his hand on this woman's shoulder was a short, balding man, whose expressions ranged sporadically from gratitude to put-upon. Slightly farther back from the group was a young man with incongruous grey hair. He wore a dark suit and his handsome features were livid. Closest to them, on Lucy's right was a woman arrayed in the garb of a career psychic. A flowing multi-coloured tunic danced in folds when the woman moved and her coarse black hair hung to her waist. She wore many bangles and beads, and despite her gaudy and aloof appearance, she looked annoyed and harried. Standing slightly behind her was a young woman who could only be her daughter. This girl looked like she might be half Egyptian though. Despite her mother's forced air, this girl's amber gaze was quite knowing and wise. It was she who spoke to the Doctor.

"I'm Isis Arrah, sir." She said in an accent that was an amalgamation of English and, yes, Egyptian. "And this is my mother, Madame Lydia. She is a clairvoyant. We came to Paris to see the Louvre when-"

"When what, Isis?" The Doctor asked. His voice was patient, but Lucy caught that gleam in his eye.

"When we both heard whisperings. We were standing in the department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities when it happened. It was like the statues were talking. It was like, for me, at least, like I was hearing one side of a conversation. And my mother said that they were calling out to her. Speaking to her, directly." Isis cast a glance at her mother, like she didn't believe her story. Did she doubt her mother's ability altogether?

The Doctor was clearly looking for more, however. He frowned and then the balding man gave the docent a gentle nudge forward. The woman spoke in a quavering French accent.

"Monsieur, I am Adora de Lis, a docent here at the Musee du Louvre. M-my father was a curator here. He usually inspects ze artwork, and records 'is notes electronically, in case 'e forgets. I found h-his body underneath the Mona Lisa. When I played ze tapes back, I 'eard him talking to someone. But this other voice sounded like whispers, like an echo. And, and." Here, Adora broke off sobbing. The balding man stepped forward, putting his arms around her shoulders. She cried into him and he looked up at the Doctor and Lucy imploringly. "Please forgive her. I am Guillaume du Pointe, another curator here. Just before Monsieur de Lis' voice cut off altogether, he said something about a…how you say, a voice calling to him, he said, 'It is consuming me, even now. This is the curse of those like me.' We have no idea what he meant." The Doctor nodded while Lucy just tried to take it all in. She was utterly lost.

"You're not the only one who's lost someone!" cried the furious looking grey-haired man suddenly. He was glaring at Adora, who pushed herself away from du Pointe, confused. She sputtered for a moment and Lucy raised her hand up to get the man's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, "And by the way, she's still lost someone regardless, so there's no call to be rude." The man glared at Lucy before answering her.

"Since we're all wasting time here on introductions, I'm Anton Lhumes. My father, William and I came here from New York to see the sights. He insisted on this place, and looked what it got him! I found him collapsed somewhere in Islamic Art. And he said a little culture would never kill anyone." The Doctor nodded while Lucy clenched her fists inside the pockets of her duster and squashed the urge to punch Anton. She could hear Adora still sniffling into du Pointe's shoulder.

The Doctor looked over at the tall man on the left and raised his eyebrows. When Lucy looked over at him too, he grew flustered.

"Go on then, you're the only one we haven't heard from yet. Don't want to hold up the Yard, now do we?"

The man faltered for a second and said at last, "I am Devon Richmond, a professor at the University of Oxford. I am on holiday and was in the Sculptures wing when I heard shouting."

"Shouting, not whispering?" the Doctor asked.

"I never heard any whispers, Detective Inspector. The shouting I heard was Mr. Lhumes. I ran down here and joined everyone slightly before you and your partner showed up." He glanced over at Lucy and bent over slightly in an awkward half-bow. She only nodded once at him and kept silent.

"Right then, I think it best for the six of you to stay put while Inspector Blake and I have a look round." The doctor offered the group a salute and strode off, Lucy on his heels, chuckling.

"What's funny, then?"

"Just have a laugh at 'Inspector Blake' is all." The Doctor smiled and then stopped in his tracks.

"I've just realised. I've never been to the Louvre, let alone in the year 2084. I don't know my way round and I was gonna start with where Isis and her mother were."

Lucy was able to give him a gloating glance before pointing down a set of stairs to her right.

"And how do you know that?"

"Well, Doctor, I know my way round buildings. And besides, it says on that sign there, 'Denon Wing: Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities." Lucy smiled the Doctor coyly as he looked at the sign. He gave her a look in return, clearly wanting to say that he'd known it all along. But Lucy knew him better than that.

Once inside the Denon Wing, Lucy found herself surrounded by ancient statues and urns. She walked by all of them, spying for something out of the norm to catch her eye. She should have just waited for the Doctor. He was scanning everything with the sonic screwdriver, and it wasn't long before he exclaimed,

"Go it! Lucy, come quick." She did as he said and rushed over to him. He was standing in front a huge statue. Most of a human figure stood atop a stone pedestal. The head and arms were missing, but the shape of the body suggested it was female. The wings were extended out, as though it had been about to take flight. The Doctor did another scan with the screwdriver and said, "I've picked up the leftover particles from the Pyranor. And before you ask, Pyranor are spore-like creatures that thrive off of energy and most importantly, brilliance and curiosity." He looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.

"And what better place is there to find brilliance and curiosity than the biggest art museum on the planet?" Lucy said picking up on the point he'd been trying to make.

"Exactly. But the Pyranor can exist for hundreds of years before they need to feed again, and when they do, they go on a spree."

"And Adora's and Anton's dads are the first in a long buffet line. So how exactly do these Pyranor work? They just sneak up behind you while you're looking at the Mona Lisa and then tuck in?"

"I told you, Lucy, they're a spore race. Microscopic. They're born inside something inspired by brilliance and curiosity. Then they sort of hibernate and in a couple hundred years it's feeding time."

"Does this mean that behind every great work of art is a swarm of all-consuming Pyranor?"

"Not every. But any."

"Talk about enigmatic at its best." Lucy teased him. He smiled and then they both looked up, alarmed when they heard a horrified scream come from somewhere to their left.

Racing down the halls of the now ancient museum, Lucy and the Doctor found what they were looking for inside the Near Eastern Antiquities, close to where they had been. As they approached the gaggle of people, Lucy noticed that one of them was missing. And that they were all standing around something.

"What is it, what happened?" asked the Doctor, his voice raised. The group had clearly disobeyed his notion that they all stay where they were. Everyone parted to reveal Adora kneeling by the body of Guillaume du Pointe. The Doctor bent down to look at him and told Lucy with one glance that he was right. Adora put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Detective Inspector Smith, please, can you help?"

"I can, Adora, and I will. The thing that killed these three people is moving quickly though. Now I'm only going to say this once, so everyone listen up. What we're dealing with are called Pyranor. They're spores that live inside the artwork and feed off brilliance. What Adora's father said, about it being a curse, he was partially right. Ever heard the saying 'Ignorance is bliss'? Well in this case, it is. All three of these men were very clever and the Pyranor need only that to survive. They will feed off your minds. You are all to stay away from the artwork until I can deal with this. They will consume you."

"You are right about that, Detective Inspector." said Adora. When the Doctor looked over at her, there was fear in her eyes. "I was with Monsieur du Pointe the whole time. I heard the whisperings too, but he started conversing with them, talking to them, I told him to stop, that he was scaring me, but he wouldn't. Then he turned to me and his eyes had gone blank. He kept talking about emptiness and wanting to grow stronger. He kept saying these frightening things and then he reached out to grab me, but I backed away. He walked toward me and it was like he was a shell. He looked like Monsieur du Pointe, but it wasn't really him. And then, he fell to the ground as you see him now. That's when I screamed and everyone came running in." Adora wiped the tears from her eyes and Lucy walked over to her and held her.

The Doctor was standing now, pacing, thinking of the next move. Had he not known about that particular facet of the Pyranor? Perhaps they'd evolved since last he'd heard from them. Lucy pulled Adora to her feet and looked over at the Doctor, not sure what to do or say. The Doctor caught her eyes and he looked up and stopped pacing.

"Right. Everyone should get back to the Atrium and stay there this time. No investigating, no poking round, that's my job. Now, Lucy, I want you to stay there with the rest of them while I go sort this out."

Lucy started and looked quite soberly at the Doctor. He returned her stare and she let go of Adora and walked over to him. In a hushed voice that was almost a hiss, she said, "You honestly expect me to let you wander round a building on your own? To fix this whole thing on your own? No!"

"Lucy, you heard what I said, they feed off brilliance, so I can't risk you being anywhere near them." Lucy's mouth dropped open and she was torn between feeling complimented and affronted.

"Doctor, you're not exactly Einstein's idiot cousin, are you?" he grinned at her and gestured her back to the waiting crowd. She stepped back quite reluctantly, biting her lip. The Doctor headed off in a new direction this time. Before he could disappear round a corner, Lucy called, "Hey, be safe, all right?" He stopped, hands in his pockets and sort of cocked his head at her.

"I always am." was his response.

As he left, Lucy chewed harder at her lip and felt the skin break. Cursing, she dabbed at her mouth with the side of her hand. Isis Arrah came over presently, holding out a stunningly white handkerchief. Lucy accepted it and paused before pressing it to her lips. She looked over at Isis questioningly, who nodded. Lucy wiped at her mouth and held the cloth there for a short while. When she was confident that the bleeding had stopped, she pulled it away and handed it back to Isis.

"Sorry about ruining that." Isis only shook her head. Lucy cast one look round at the five stunned people she'd just met. Madame Lydia Arrah was no doubt trying to comfort Adora. Lucy heard her saying something about the great beyond, about people's souls crossing over onto another plane. The rest of the group had tucked themselves away. Lucy looked back over at Isis. The woman had to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Her hair was black like her mother's, but cut at a modest shoulder length. She dressed in business casual and had a very composed air about her, the opposite of her mother's. All the same, when Isis affixed Lucy with that cool amber gaze, Lucy felt chilled to the bone.

"You know, I never believed that my mother had the gift. She tried to convince me that I have it too. I told her she was wrong. How could I have it, if she didn't? She was furious with me. She said that perhaps she was wrong, that she had only spoken out of wishful thinking. She asks for money that she doesn't deserve for tricky guesswork, luck and superstition. She is no fortune-teller."

"Sounds like you two have some issues to work out."

"Arguing with my mother is pointless. Trying to have a reasonable conversation with her is the very definition of insanity. But I was wrong, Miss Blake."

"About what? Do you have the gift after all? You know, I never know what to believe about all that."

"Well, believe this, Lucy Blake. I do have the gift, even if my mother doesn't. And as soon as I saw you I knew."

Lucy's mouth hung open once more. She dreaded what Isis was about to tell her. It couldn't be.

"W-what? What did you know?" she asked, barely able to keep her voice from breaking.

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm really very sorry. But it's going to happen soon. You're going to die."


	27. Think

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Lucy started, backing away from the level-headed psychic. "What?" she gasped out breathlessly. "What are you talking about? No, everyone else has said change, change not die." Isis Arrah fixed her with her calculating amber eyes.

"Death is a change, don't you think?"

"No, you can't mean it like that. Everyone else, and I mean people I've never met, from different planets, from different eras in time, they've all said change. I'm not gonna die."

"Everyone dies eventually, Lucy."

"Shut up! Just don't say it anymore!" Lucy was trying hard not to panic. She was backing away from Isis still, but Isis kept closing in the gap. Still hushed, Lucy went on. "I've been told countless times now that I was built to withstand everything I come up against. I didn't even believe it, but it can't be, I can't just die."

"Then maybe it's a different kind of death. All I know, Lucy Blake, is that there is darkness surrounding you, following you. And it's getting closer." Lucy stared openmouthed at Isis. Whatever she thought about her, she was no friend now. She looked round at the others, who hadn't even heard their exchange. Isis' mother, Lydia would only claim that she too had seen some black cloud hanging over Lucy's head. Adora was still grieving from her father's and dear friend's deaths. Anton Lhumes never liked her to begin with. And she couldn't trust that stuffy Professor Richmond any more than she could throw him. So she did the only thing she felt was left to her. She ran.

Despite the Doctor's explicit orders to stay put, Lucy couldn't remain in the company of a woman who had just delivered a death sentence. As she ran up stairs and down hallways, Lucy thought about all the things Isis had said. There was no way she was right. How many people had met her for the first time and commented on her astounding survival abilities? It felt like nearly everyone she'd encountered since meeting the Doctor. So she'd survive this too. This was just one more challenge she'd have to overcome. Because she couldn't die, she wouldn't let that happen and neither would the Doctor.

She wondered where he'd gone. Would he go round to all the places that the group had been, looking for the Pyranor? She thought not, they seemed to be moving, and surely he would have thought of that. So she would have to go someplace new. What section hadn't they mentioned? Lucy looked to her left and was presented with a good start. 21st Century Art was through that archway. She took a moment to compose herself, to slow her breathing and calm her mind. Once she encountered the Doctor, she'd just tell him that she was too worried and she'd decided to come help him. It wouldn't be a lie.

She wasn't just worried about him though. As she passed famous artwork, she gazed at them all with a queer sense of foreboding. She'd always appreciated art. And now it was her enemy. The Doctor had said that she was brilliant and that they would seize that opportunity to feast. Despite being flattered, she was chilled to the bone. She recalled the Somnium Parasites who had made her dream and trapped her in her own head. She liked being the only person in her head, and was not about to let some swarm race consume her every fiber of being.

Lucy looked up when she heard a clatter down the hallway to her right. Was that the Doctor? Or had some of the others followed her after she'd run away from Isis? Or, was it Isis herself? Wanting to make sure, Lucy ducked behind a sculpture and found herself facing Andy Warhol's famous painting of Marilyn Monroe. She gulped a little bit as she wondered if the Pyranor were here. Andy Warhol was brilliant. He was nothing short of eccentric, curious and brilliant. Just utterly brilliant. Surely such talent could spawn the likes of the Pyranor. Something stirred behind her. She whipped round and peered round the corner of the sculpture. Nothing there. But the stirring continued. Maybe it was on the other side? No, no one there either. Lucy took a shaky breath, telling herself that it was nothing. But that stirring sensation never stopped. Was the Doctor moving around somewhere near her, just out of sight? Then she turned back round, pressing her back against the marble statue. Warhol's painting was there in front of her. And the stirring got louder. And in spite of everything the Doctor had told her, she leaned closer. There, distinct whispering. It was fascinating. Lucy could hear, as though several voices were speaking at once, but so clearly. "Come closer, child of time. Such knowledge you have gained. Such wisdom you possess. Surely, you want to know our secrets too?" Lucy was nearly nose to nose with the painting. All sense had long been turned off. Those voices were the only things that mattered. They were so curious. As she breathed in deep, she could feel a warm glow around her as something took up residence in her mind. She found her vision blurring, as though her eyes were shrouded by some kind of film. It didn't matter. She felt stronger than she ever had in her life. She had to go tell the Doctor that everything was alright.

The Doctor hissed in exasperation. Nothing in this room either. He'd combed nearly the whole Louvre, looking for these blasted Pyranor. He'd given every painting and sculpture a dark look as he passed by, sonic screwdriver always out and at the ready. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd defeat the Pyranor when and if confronted with them. They fed off brilliance and he was a genius. Should he have grabbed one of the less-gifted members of the group and toted them along with him to see what happened? Well, too late to go back now, and anyway, Lucy would beg to help. He looked up when he heard something moving about off to his left. Pyranor? Or a certain pint-sized friend who was too smart for her own good? Neither, he saw when he leaned over to look through the archway that led to the atrium. Adora de Lis was standing there, facing him, looking for him it seemed.

"Inspector?" she called to him.

"Tell you what, Adora, how about you just call me Doctor?" Adora looked puzzled but stepped closer to him.

"Doctor, I came to find you. I had to get away from Madame Lydia and it's Miss Blake, she's-"

Sheer panic flared up in the Doctor's chest. What had she done? What had happened?

"Adora, what is it, what about Lucy, is she all right?"

"Well, Doctor, she ran off. She was talking to Isis and she just ran off. I thought maybe, I find her and bring her back to the atrium, but then I find you instead."

The Doctor tried to steady his breathing, tried to convince himself that she'd be fine. Who was he kidding? The Pyranor would latch on to her like white onrice. And she'd be gone. He forced himself not to think of that, because that would never happen and he gestured for Adora to follow him. He was walking briskly and she had to jog to keep up. As they walked he spoke.

"Do you know which way she went, Adora? We need to find her."

"When she left the atrium she dashed up the stairs and then I think left." The Doctor quickened his pace. He was on the third floor. He wanted to go back down and tore down the steps and flew left. There was a wing there, 21st Century Art. He and Adora dashed inside and scoured the area. No sign of Lucy. Adora tried to stay away from the art work. The Doctor was inspecting every nook and cranny of the place. And there, by a painting of Andy Warhol's he found trace evidence of the Pyranor with his screwdriver and smelled a faint lingering of Lucy's perfume. They'd gotten her.

"No, no, no, no, no." he shouted as he ran back down the stairs, Adora only barely able to keep up with him. He'd meant to go into another wing to look for her, but he needn't have. Lucy was there in the atrium. Her back was to him, but he could already tell that something was wrong. The others were looking at her in shock and disbelief, cowering against the wall.

The Doctor skidded to a halt, calling out Lucy's name. He held his arm out to block Adora from running to her. Ever so slowly, Lucy's figure turned round. What the Doctor saw frightened him. Lucy's dark blue eyes had turned pitch black, like two empty pools offering no relief. A small, sinister smile curled her lips, twisting her normally captivating features. She was looking up at him, but it wasn't really her, just as Adora had said. A shaky breath escaped his lips as he took in this horrifying sight.

When she spoke, it was with two voices; one that was close to her own, and one that was lower, more nasal and somehow metallic.

"She is fascinating, Doctor. The others we consumed with little difficulty, feeding as we do off their minds. But she has tucked herself away. She has somehow shut herself off, and is trying to push us out. There is something truly different about Lucy Blake. Never fret though, Doctor. We will have her too. And then, we'll have you. The most brilliant mind of all."

"You'll never get that far. You said she was trying to push you out and she will." The Doctor really had no idea if she would. How could she? She couldn't stop being brilliant, she just couldn't. Lucy's figure took a step toward him and he backed away. How strange to be backing away from _her, _to be thinking of ways to defeat _her. _Well, not her exactly. Just the things that were in her mind.

The others were getting antsy. Madame Lydia Arrah was hiding behind her daughter, who looked the picture of calm. Professor Richmond looked as though he was ready to dash out the door. No doubt he thought himself cleverer than he really was. Anton Lhumes was the farthest away from them all. He seemed to know that the Pyranor were no threat to him. But if the Doctor guessed right, he wanted to see some kind of revenge acted upon them for the death of his father. Adora was scared, he could tell. She'd lost so much in one short day and now she had no idea what to do. But like Lucy, she was determined to help. She leaned in to the Doctor and said, "Do you think Miss Blake can get rid of them?"

"I don't know, Adora, but I hope so."

"It's just, I had a thought. If she can push them out of her own mind, they will still just move on to the next brilliant person they can find. Probably you. Maybe Isis Arrah. How will we defeat them then?" The Doctor turned from Lucy's figure to look fully at Adora.

"That's quite a point you have, Adora, in fact, that's brilliant. You'd better stay far away from Lucy." Adora only pursed her lips and shook her head. Humility was a virtue rarely found. Adora de Lis, for sure would be a target of the Pyranor, should Lucy get rid of them.

Anton Lhumes then stepped forward, closer to Lucy than probably the rest of them would dare to be. "So are you actually going to do anything to help, Inspector Smith? Because so far all that's happened is another man has died and your own partner has been…infected." They glared at each other for a good while. Under the Doctor's gaze, Lhumes seemed to shrink, to regret his words even. Because the Doctor was fuming and his eyes were so angry. He flew down the rest of the steps, stopping in front of Lhumes' face. "Mr. Lhumes, you are on dangerous ground. Because there is nothing I value more than life, and especially hers. But they are in her mind, they chose her because she is brilliant, but so am I. And I can't help her if they get me." Lhumes glared once more at the Doctor, and then at Lucy and he turned round and walked back over to lean against the wall.

Lucy turned her head in a liquid manner to look at the Doctor again. She had been utterly still after her speech. Now the look she gave him was one of confusion. Could it be she'd found a way to get around them? Did he dare hope that he'd get her back? Lucy's mouth opened as if to speak, but no words came. Instead a gasp escaped her lips and the Doctor felt some warm glow pass by him. He backed away quickly, not daring to breathe.

As he held his breath, he looked over at his companion. The sinister smile was gone and her eyes were blue again. They were filled with worry, sadness, and even a little bit of hate. He didn't even need to think as he rushed to her and caught her in a fierce hug. He did notice that she was incredibly stiff and that she barely hugged him back. After a moment, he let her go, holding her by her arms and peered down to look her in the eyes. She wouldn't meet his gaze. Instead, she started at the floor, mouth set grimly.

"Lucy, what is it? What's wrong?" He couldn't hide the alarm in his voice. He thought maybe that she was about to be consumed, that she hadn't defeated the Pyranor at all. But now she looked at him and it really was her.

"I-I can't even explain it, Doctor. I-I'll have to tell you later." Her voice was subdued, tired, simply exhausted. He'd respect her wishes, but all the same he was dying to know how she'd done it.

All of a sudden, he remembered that they had to go somewhere. Adora had said so. Adora!

The Doctor looked over and saw Adora's now black eyes and haunting smile. No, it couldn't be. He'd gotten careless in his joy over having Lucy back. And in that time, the Pyranor had chosen their next victim. As saddened as he was over Adora's inevitable loss, he hoped that the Pyranor would speak to him again through her, to tell him how Lucy had pushed them out. But Adora only reached for the Doctor. She stepped toward him and he knew that he was to be the next course. He backed away again, Lucy tugging on his elbow.

Then, something the Doctor hadn't counted on happened. Madame Lydia Arrah rushed forward, saying, "No more, I'll sacrifice myself!" She placed herself in front of the Doctor. She held her arms out and her face up as she braced herself to be overtaken. As Adora crumpled to the floor, dead, Madame Lydia shuddered as the Pyranor entered her brain. She gasped once and seemed to brace herself again to be consumed. Nothing happened. She turned round to face the Doctor and Lucy, looking down at her hands, touching her face. She was fine. She hadn't been consumed.

"They're gone!" she breathed. "They're just gone! I must have been powerful enough to defeat them." Lucy snorted uncharacteristically and rolled her eyes. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her questioningly but she only stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked out the doors of the Louvre impatiently. The Doctor would find out what was going on, but for now he had to do damage control here. He looked down at Adora's body and felt his hearts sink. If only he hadn't been so preoccupied with Lucy, he could have helped her. He faced those remaining now and spoke to them.

"The Pyranor are gone. I don't know what you did, Madame Lydia, but it seems to have worked. Mr. Lhumes, I offer you my condolences. On behalf of the Scotland Yard, I hope you all have a nice day."

As he walked out of the building, he shot Isis Arrah a look. They both knew that it wasn't exactly her mother who had defeated them. He heard Anton Lhumes shouting after him, asking him who the hell he thought he was, wasn't he going to come clean up this mess? But the Doctor needed to deal with Lucy. He found her leaning against the wall outside, away from the armed guards. He walked over to her, his eyes curious. She shook her head and said, "Let's head back to the T.A.R.D.I.S., I have to get away from here." He nodded and as they walked, he let her tell him about everything that had happened.

"It was so strange having them inside my head. It's like being two people. I could still think, but they were always there with every thought, feeding off it. So then I tried not thinking at all. I heard them tell you I'd shut them out. I just, didn't think of anything, didn't give them that curiosity to go on."

"But that wouldn't be enough to get rid of them." He interjected. She nodded, agreeing with him.

"Next, and I'm not proud of this, I thought of every ignorant, arrogant, wasteful thought I'd ever had. I thought of all the times I'd made a fool of myself, every mistake I'd ever made. That's part of the bad mood, Doctor; I'm still trying to come down from that. And just…all those horrible thoughts and what Isis said to me-"

"What did Isis say to you?" the Doctor pried.

"She told me I was gonna die. Not change, die. I told her, no, that it wasn't true, that she was wrong. She said death was a change, or maybe the she was wrong, but that there was something dark surrounding me. I thought about that too."

"Lucy, I'm still kind of unclear about how you actually beat them."

"Well, when I broke away from Isis to go find you, I thought of everything I could do. So before they got me completely, I thought, they feed off brilliance and curiosity, right? So for the curiosity I turned my whole brain off. When that didn't work completely, I thought, brilliance. Ignorance is the opposite of brilliance. That's when I thought of all the mistakes I'd made. Also, arrogance is a form of ignorance, so I thought of that as well. I just, just need a minute to get my head back where it goes, Doctor."

He nodded and took her hand as they neared the T.A.R.D.I.S. She squeezed his and then he said, "I bet that's what did it for good old Madame Lydia." When Lucy only looked at him questioningly, he said, "Arrogance, like you said. When she put herself in front of me, just before they let go of Adora, she thought she was saving me, and in a way she was. But she was so arrogant, so ignorant in her way, that when the Pyranor latched on to her, it melted them away, or whatever her brain did to them. Normally, they choose their meals, but this time it just showed up right in their faces. I reckon she got rid of them for us."

"Well don't expect me to thank her." Lucy joked.

"Nah, you did plenty. Thought of all that to get them out of your head."

"Well I sort of had to, didn't I?" Lucy asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Anything to survive, eh?"

"Don't say that."

The Doctor squeezed her hand before letting go to open the doors of his ship. He went off to man the controls while Lucy went to lie down on the floor. He chuckled at her but she only closed her eyes and smiled. This was home and no one could take this away from her. She'd beat the Pyranor in her own way and proved once again that she was built to survive, no matter how much it perturbed her with everyone saying it. She certainly couldn't doubt it now. And maybe this change that everyone kept talking about, well maybe she'd survive that too.


	28. Rain

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Leila Graves was having an awful day. She'd woken up already half an hour late for work. She'd immediately called her boss and said that she'd been sick. Rushing round her flat, she stubbed her toes no less than three times and misplaced her keys once she was finally out the door. Her car wouldn't start once she finally got in it. She decided to walk which would only make her more late, but at least she'd get there. Now, the heel of her right shoe was threatening to snap off and she had to walk with an odd limp that made people stare. Leila hated attention. As a receptionist for a legal firm, she didn't get a lot and that was how she liked it.

Leila looked down at her mobile and saw she'd gotten a message from her boyfriend, Dave. She smiled, thinking that maybe he could say something that would cheer her up.

"Lei, I met someone while I was on business in Cancun, I think we both know we've been through for a long while. Well, bye then."

What! She hadn't known they'd been through. This was news to her! Leila screamed and threw her phone on the ground, stamping her foot and finally breaking that right heel off. As she staggered, people swerved wide on the walkway to avoid her. She collected herself, picking up her phone and dusting it off. Well as far as she was concerned, things could only go up from here. She pulled off her shoes, thinking she'd just walk barefooted the rest of the way to work. Just as she was thinking that things must turn around now, it started to rain. Leila hated rain. She looked up at the dark grey sky and cursed it mentally. "Is the whole bloody universe against me then?" she asked darkly to no one in particular.

She trudged through the wet and saw her building not far away. She could at least get inside, get warm and dry and think about nothing for a few hours. It certainly couldn't get worse now.

After thinking that, Leila noticed that indeed, the rain seemed warmer than it usually was in London, and her skin felt kind of tingly. She looked down at her arm and saw steam rising from it. What?

No one saw Leila Graves leave the world. They were all tucked away, safe in their walls by now. No one saw as she continued to stare at her body which kept on steaming. No one saw as she apparently turned to mist and floated up and away into the sky. No one saw the rain immediately clear up after she was gone.

Carrie Novella was leaning against the side of the tattoo parlour on her smoking break. She needed to quit; these fags were ruining her life. She coughed all the time and her teeth were starting to turn yellow. Thank god for bleach strips. She rested her head against the brick face of the building as she blew smoke up in the air. The sky was turning grey. Those clouds looked heavy. Today had been slow. Tuesdays were never big days for getting inked.

Still, she had three sketches to finish and two appointments later that day. She could keep occupied. Sticking the fag back in her mouth, she pulled out the pack from her back pocket. Carrie debated whether or not to light another one. She flicked the first on the ground and after looking long and hard at the half empty pack she'd bought this morning, she flung it into a nearby drain. Carrie Novella felt she had a new lease on life.

Even now, the rain was coming down to cleanse her. She even opened her mouth a little and tilted her face up to receive it. She noticed how warm it was, how it made her skin tingle and sizzle.

Still in the alley on the side of the building, no one saw as Carrie Novella, like Leila Graves, got dissolved into steam and floated up into the already clearing sky.

Miles away from all this, Lucy Blake was bent over a sketchbook. The book had seen better days. She'd spilt coffee on it once and softened some of the pages, staining the bottom right corners faint brown. It had been tossed around enough and the corners and spine were somewhat dented. Pages had been torn out, samples of cloth had been taped or glued in. She'd had it for about five years, and now it was almost full. She twirled her pencil round in her left hand and set the tip down again, adding more detail.

Lucy had decided to make the Doctor a suit. She could think of no better way to thank him for everything he'd done than by doing what she did best. She knew that he'd only say she didn't have to, but all the same, she wanted to. This one would be dark, dark grey, pinstriped, of course. She had yet to choose a fabric, which meant she couldn't make much headway on the design. Different materials did different things. Whatever she did, she didn't want the Doctor to know until she was actually presenting him the suit.

A buzz from her mobile jerked her from her thoughts. Juliet, it could only be Juliet. She picked it up on the second ring and sighed by way of greeting.

"Oh, Lucy, really, can't you think of something more inventive than a sigh?"

"I know, Jules, I know, but I'm thinking and that's using up all my creativity."

"Well, when you take a break from that, how about you get yourself back down to Earth?"

Sitting up straight, Lucy pulled her brows down and felt her heart racing a bit. "Jules, is something wrong?" she asked urgently.

"No, twin, why does something have to be wrong for me to call you? No, I just felt like I should, I felt like I needed to talk to you. Actually, I was going to ask if you were all right."

Lucy suppressed the urge to laugh. She hadn't called Juliet after going to the Louvre and nearly being consumed by Pyranor. Jules would be mad that she hadn't called right away, but that would pass. How like Juliet to pick up on Lucy almost telepathically. That was an identical twin for you. She assured Juliet that she and the Doctor would be there within the hour.

After she set her mobile down, she tucked away her sketchbook and headed down the hallway to where the Doctor would be, as always, at the controls. They were currently orbiting a sun that had just been born. The white light was blinding and the Doctor was wearing sunglasses even with the lights dimmed inside. Lucy held up her hand to shield her eyes and said, "Doctor? Mind if we pop down to Earth and visit the twin? I never told her about the Pyranor and all, and it's been awhile."

The Pyranor had been a week ago, as a matter of fact. The Doctor looked up at her and grinned as he said, "Sure. Off we go."

Minutes later they were landing in that handy alley by Lucy's flat. She wondered why she still thought of it as her flat. She certainly didn't think of it as her home. The T.A.R.D.I.S. was her home, and had been since she'd met the Doctor.

Pushing the thought aside, she threw the door open and was met by her sister, who had heard them land. They hugged for a good while, the Doctor leaning on the door frame and smiling at them.

"So what's been going on, Lucy? I know I felt like I had to call you for a reason."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to tell you. About a week ago, I went to the Louvre-"

"You went to the Louvre without me!" Juliet interrupted.

"Well, sort of. I mean, yes, I did go without you. But it was in the year 2084 and we were only going because something was wrong. Anyway, they were these things there, these things called Pyranor and they got inside my head, like the Somnium Parasites. But this time, I had to think all kinds of awful things to get them out. They're gone though, and they're gone for good."

Juliet was frowning. This was the sort of thing that made her nervous about Lucy traveling with the Doctor. Danger followed their every step and sometimes they went chasing after it. It wouldn't be long, Juliet thought, before Lucy was met with something that wouldn't be easy to get rid of.

"But nothing's going on here, Juliet, right? Everything's fine?" Juliet looked up from her brooding and thought for a moment.

"Yeah, of course. Although…"

Now the Doctor straightened up and came toward Juliet. His eyes were wide and he looked quite concerned. "Although what, Juliet?"

"It's just…people have been turning up missing. All in the last week. A friend of mine, she said that this girl she works with, Leila, or something. She said that she was late for work and then never showed up. No one's heard anything from her. And people all over London are just disappearing. And…oh god."

"What, Jules, what?" hissed Lucy, irritated that her sister so often let things like this slip her mind.

"Oh, god, Lucy, how could I forget? Do you remember old Stephen Cross, the bloke who used to watch us when mum couldn't?"

"Yes, of course, Jules, has he gone missing too?"

"Yeah. Just yesterday, actually. Apparently some friend of his invited him to tea and he never made it. And you remember old Stephen, he was never late for anything, never forgot a date."

"Juliet, has anything else odd or unusual been happening lately?" The Doctor pried. Lucy was far from believing that these disappearances were due to any rising crime rate in the city. Nearly everything she ran into was extraterrestrial or supernatural. This had to be too.

"No, I don't think so. Well, I dunno, it's been raining a lot more than usual."

Lucy and the Doctor gave Juliet blank stares. Juliet shrugged her shoulders, splaying her hands. "Well, that's the only thing I could think of, all right? Some people have said that it's unseasonably rainy."

The Doctor frowned, shaking his head. Lucy couldn't speak for him, but she doubted that rain in London was behind the disappearances.

"Do you know anything else about the people who disappeared? Where they were, did they have anything in common?"

"Almost none of them. The first was that Leila girl, and then later that day some woman who worked in a tattoo parlour. Then it was some bloke on a golf course. Then it was Stephen Cross, and later yesterday, a minister on his way home from a sermon."

"So today's Monday?" Lucy asked. Juliet nodded.

The Doctor had moved into their living room and the twins followed. He was pressing his hands to the side of his head and pacing back and forth.

"Oh, think, think, think. A girl on her way to work, a man on his way to tea, a man on a golf course and a minister leaving a church. What was that tattoo parlour girl doing, do you know?"

"I think someone said she nipped out for a fag."

The Doctor nodded while Lucy's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open.

"Doctor, they were all outside. Everyone who's disappeared was outside and then no one saw them again. Juliet said it's been raining more than usual, may-"

"Yes! Yes, that's it, Lucy, it's the rain! Oh, Juliet, you were right!" Juliet beamed a little bit while Lucy frowned some more.

"But, Doctor, it rains all the time in London. So it's happening more often now. What's causing that?"

The Doctor stopped pacing and his hands dropped from his head. He looked quite defeated for a moment.

"Rain. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. What makes it rain?" Lucy and Juliet exchanged glances. As far as they both knew, rain occurred naturally. Every day. All the time. They both looked back at the Doctor simultaneously and waited for him to come up with something. They were both stumped.

"That's it! Yes! No…no it can't be, but, yes, it is! No, although…yes!" After this babbling he tore through them and dashed out the front door. The twins raised their eyebrows at each other again and followed him. He was standing in the middle of a deserted street. No doubt everyone was staying inside because something would get you if you stepped outside.

The Doctor looked up at the greying sky and knew that he was right. Lucy and Juliet came to stand on either side of him, staring up at the same thing he saw. He heard Juliet gasp and felt the rush of air as her hand moved to cover her mouth. Lucy was stoic but she grabbed his arm with both her hands. Glancing down at her, he saw that she looked worried. She looked up at him, for answers he knew, but he didn't have the ones she wanted.

"Who are they, Doctor?" she asked softly, her eyes never leaving his. He squeezed her hand which had found its way to his before he replied.

He gestured up toward the giant spaceship hovering hundreds of meters above them. The whirling black discs on the bottom opened up and they could see a faint mist get sucked inside.

"On that ship are the Stratomorphs. They change the weather and the atmosphere so that they can go unnoticed."

"But what do they do, Doctor?" Juliet asked, hand moving down from her mouth to her throat.

"They take people, Juliet. They latch on to one person and take them up into their ships." Lucy looked back at him. The question in her eyes was undeniable and clear. Why?

"They take them for fuel. They spend their lives in space and only come close to life, to a planet when they need more fuel. Their fuel is energy, living, breathing energy. But they convert it into that mist we saw just a second ago. Another person is going to be reported missing soon."

Juliet swayed on her feet a bit and looked as though she might be sick.

"So the Stratomorphs are using the rain that already falls on London, harnessing it, changing it, and using it to abduct people whom they then convert to fuel?" Lucy asked, sounding more sober than she probably felt. The Doctor only nodded, always appreciative of how quickly she picked things up, of how much she understood about alien races.

"How many will they take?" Juliet still sounded weak.

"The Stratomorph fuel tanks can hold millions of liters of fuel. That's hundreds of thousands of people. But they can bide their time, taking several people a day for weeks. They're trying to stay unnoticed now, but later they'll throw caution to the winds, which they could control if they wanted to, and take everyone. Turn them into mist and plop them in a fuel receptacle. They could take all of Great Britain."

Lucy and Juliet leaned forward to see each other around the Doctor. The look they exchanged now was one of utter fear.

"Hold on, though? What if people just stay inside? It's the rain that's taking them right?" Juliet asked. She and Lucy were looking at the Doctor hopefully. He hated to have to tell them this.

"If it was only the rain they controlled, yes. But like I said, they can manipulate any weather pattern, any atmospheric condition. Not enough people on the streets? No problem, just create a hurricane and use it to smash some roofs in and get more people. Send a tsunami if they start getting impatient." Lucy took a shaky breath and Juliet darted for the door to the flat.

"No, Juliet, you may as well come back inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. with us." Lucy called. Juliet nodded and changed directions, heading for the big blue box. The Doctor looked down at Lucy, somewhat astonished.

"You're not suggesting we just leave them, are you?"

"Don't you know me better than that by now, Doctor? Of course I'm not suggesting that, but we'll be safest inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. while we think of something to do to help everyone. If we get turned into mist, there's not a whole lot we can do to help."

The Doctor nodded and ushered her forward, his hand on the small of her back, to his beloved ship. Of course he knew her better than that, he chided himself. He should know by now that Lucy's unquenchable need to help people far outstripped anything else. How he loved that about her, he thought as he closed and locked the door behind the twins.


	29. Trade

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Lucy was leaning over the control panel, head on her hands, fingers drumming against her chin. Her eyes darted here and there. She couldn't concentrate long enough on one thing. She couldn't focus. She, her sister and the Doctor were trying to think of a way to stop the Stratomorphs before they killed everyone in the country.

So far Lucy had thought of several ideas that were completely worthless, and most, downright stupid. If they could somehow get a giant dome to cover Great Britain, then the Stratomorphs would not be able to gain control over their weather. Never mind the fact that a giant dome did not exist and would never work, they would just go someplace else and kills thousands more.

They could find a way to get beamed onto the ship without getting turned into mist. This idea was the soundest, albeit most dangerous. But how on earth would they ever get on board? Without dying before they reached the door, that is.

They could call a meeting with the aliens and try to reason with them. So far in Lucy's traveling, she'd actually had to do little real fighting. Rarely had she ever used force, opting for the most part to use her brain and her surroundings. She knew that this would never work though. They wanted fuel and there were perfect resources right here. Why go anywhere else?

They could kill them all. Lucy didn't know how and she didn't like the idea. But more and more, she was beginning to figure that this was the only way to be rid of them and to ensure that more people didn't die because of them. But how right was it to kill in the name of saving life? Didn't that make her no better than them?

Lucy sighed gustily as she thought up useless, hare-brained ideas. No one had spoken in quite a long while. Juliet looked as if she had given up thinking altogether. She kept staring out the small windows, biting her lip and tiling her head like she and her twin always did. That worried, pained look never left her face. Lucy knew that Juliet was the least comfortable in this room. While she could travel the Earth and leap without looking, these were places she did not like to go. Juliet preferred trekking in India and South Africa to being chased by aliens and monsters on some planet she had never heard of. She preferred her own time period, having always lived quite in the present. Lucy knew that in the back of Juliet's mind that she could have been saved a lot of sleepless nights if the Doctor had never come into their lives. Lucy knew all this, but she also knew that her sister loved her, trusted her and respected her. The twins wanted each other's happiness above all. And Lucy felt selfish for putting her life with the Doctor before Juliet's peace of mind.

Lucy had to snap herself back to the matter at hand. Enough. Juliet has given you her blessing, she thought. Keep thinking about what you need to do to get the Stratomorphs out of the picture. Lucy, having finished mentally scolding herself, ran over her scattered plans in her head again. Rubbish, all rubbish. She let her eyes wander over to the Doctor. How magnificent he looked standing there, leaning with his back to the railing of the ship. His chin was resting between his thumb and forefinger, the elbow of that arm resting on the hand of his other. His dark eyes were hard, concentrating, constantly thinking. He had a better idea than she did, she just knew. It was in his blood, in everything he was. He was action and thought and pragmatism and spontaneity all rolled into one.

And speaking of pragmatism, Lucy was losing her mind. Aliens were hovering over her city and all she could think about was how nice the Doctor looked all brooding. She shook her head and stood up, stretching. She heard the cracks in her back that told her she'd been in one position for too long. She cracked her neck next and looked back over at her twin. Their eyes met and each echoed the look of resigned desperation in the other's face. How would they get out of this? What could they possibly do to help? They were miles above Earth, out of reach of the Stratomorphs who would be concentrated only on what was below.

Patrick Pascal was huddled in his living room with the rest of his family. His older sister was home from University. He looked over at Michelle, the sister who'd tormented him as a child. Their rivalries had been typical, but now he regretted them. What had he missed in those years of putting frogs in her bed, of trading her shampoo with paste? Did she regret freezing his underwear or "accidentally" throwing away all of his comic books? Their gazes locked and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

There was no reason to start thinking like this now. The people who'd disappeared had all been outside and it was somehow connected to the rain. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd seen a man walking down the street. When he turned to look at him fully, he was gone and there was a hazy mist floating up into the sky. Patrick had always been told that he was imaginative, that he was…creative. Now he wished that this was only a story he'd concocted in his head. He wished he could make it all go away.

Patrick's parents were sitting on the sofa with his sister. Regina and Harrold had been loving, wonderful parents. They'd guided him, encouraged him and kicked his arse into gear when he needed it. Why couldn't Patrick stop thinking things like this? He didn't know for sure that he was going to die. He was safe inside his house, away from the rain.

Suddenly, the rain intensified and howling winds lapped at the house. A monsoon could have been introduced to London for all the water that was rising so quickly outside. So quickly in fact, that water was seeping in under the crack of the front door. The wind roared outside and sounded as if it had turned into a monster that would burst through the walls at any moment.

The wind didn't burst through the walls. It crashed the ceiling in, shingles and other hardware falling heavy around the Pascal family. They all huddled closer together, Patrick moving from the armchair to cling to his sister and mother. He grasped his father's hand over their backs. The wind continued roaring and then the rain came pouring into their open house.

Patrick wondered what he had been so scared about. This rain was warm, even if it was pounding down on him quite severely. His skin even felt tingly and prickly, indeed, he felt as though he was being lit from within. He was sure his face had relaxed now from that scrunched mask of terror it had been. Looking at his family, he saw that they were serene as well. The last thing Patrick Pascal thought before he floated up into the sky as atoms in mist, was that he was do glad to have his family together like this.

Lucy and Juliet Blake were pressed against the windows of the T.A.R.D.I.S. Through them they could see that the Stratomorphs were beaming people up more and more frequently. A golden haze surrounded the ship before being sucked into it. The haze was always quickly replaced by another ethereal cloud.

"Doctor, they're accelerating!" Lucy cried to him. He came over to stand behind them, worry plastered all over his face.

"Oh, Doctor, what are we going to do?" Juliet pleaded, once again placing her hand around her throat.

He was shaking his head when he started and pulled something from his pocket. He was looking down at the psychic paper with growing curiosity. Lucy's own eyes widened and she waited, barely breathing, for him to tell her what was happening now.

He stared for a long while at the paper, expressions ranging from confusion to anger, from doubt to hope, from suspicion to excitement. He then looked up at Lucy and he smiled. "Well, we don't need to worry about getting their attention. They know we're here." He exclaimed triumphantly. Lucy did not see how this was cause for celebration. She looked over at Juliet and knew that she concurred. The Doctor was looking from one to the other, each time hoping to see a flicker of hope. He got no such reward.

"Oh, don't you see? They've asked us to come on board to negotiate. They know who I am and-"

"And what?" Lucy asked, face solemn. "And they promise not to hurt us? They promise they won't zap us into dust just as soon as we let our guard down? They swear they won't cause any harm to the T.A.R.D.I.S. or to anyone else down on Earth until we're through? I'm sorry, Doctor, I don't trust them. Not as far as I can throw them." Juliet was nodding her agreement and the Doctor looked exasperated.

"Well does either of you have a better plan?" he queried, a single eyebrow raised. Lucy bit her lip. She was not about to share her giant dome idea with him.

"Fine." She said resignedly. "We'll go. We'll negotiate." The Doctor grinned that cheeky crooked grin of his at her and arranged for the T.A.R.D.I.S. to fly on board the Stratomorph's ship.

Lucy and Juliet were still quite reticent about the whole thing. Neither of them really wanted to walk out onto that alien ship. Both of them wanted to act like they were six years old and plant themselves on the ground, throwing a fit until the Doctor dragged them bodily from the T.A.R.D.I.S. Both of them knew better than to do that.

The ship was not as stark as Lucy would have imagined. Strange tentacle beings, like jellyfish, floated in the air, translucent bodies reflecting the floodlights all round them. The lighting was all soft pastels, the furniture padded and upholstered. The Stratomorphs themselves were something to behold.

They were all quite different. Some looked quite like fish, their bluish grey skin more like scales than anything else. These had large yellow eyes and even openings on their necks that looked somewhat like gills. Some were like rocks and ice. Their skin and hair were white and grey and silver, their eyes black and hard. They seemed as if they'd be made of stone. Some were mere waifs of beings. Their long grey hair whipped about them constantly though there was no breeze. They seemed to shimmer and disappear in certain lights. They're eyes were almost always closed and Lucy had yet to get a good enough look to tell what colour they were. Each and every being, however, was clothed in a robe of either white or grey. It took Lucy a moment, but she realised that they all resembled weather patterns and traits. None of them seemed hostile, the icy ones a bit cold and indifferent, yes, but nonetheless unassuming. One being strode toward them, one of the rain/fish like creatures. He seemed as though he would be male, the features sterner, harder. He approached them with open arms and was actually smiling at them. Lucy and Juliet were behind the Doctor and on either side of him. They both stood up as tall as they could, for every one of these people was quite towering. The Doctor himself had his chest back, his fists clenched and his jaw set. Lucy loved this pose in him. He looked so lordly, so…Time Lordly.

"Welcome, friends. We are so glad that you accepted our plea to come here and negotiate about all this." He looked now at the twins, turning benignly from one to the other. "I can understand how hard it has been for you, hearing about people going missing. You must be quite angry with us. But you must understand, my dears, that we would not be here unless we had absolutely no other choice. No other planet is as teeming with life as this one. And you are all so young, so ripe. The fuel that your species has provided us will last us such a long time. Isn't that nice? We won't be back for hundreds of years and then you both will be dead by then."

Juliet launched herself at the man, held back just in time by the Doctor. He had his arms wrapped round her waist as she strained and kicked and bared her teeth at the horrible creature before her. Lucy herself was quite livid. To say all those terrible things while _smiling _at them, treating them as if they were children!

The creature chuckled and actually went to pat Juliet on the head. When she made as if to bite him, he withdrew his hand. He looked over at Lucy and his smile grew wider.

"Oh yes, so young, the lot of you. But, my dear, perhaps I was too quick, too rash when I included you in with your sister and the rest of the human race. Because you are older in some ways than most. And you have come through so much…."

"Let me guess." Lucy interjected. "You're about to tell me how I'm built to withstand, to survive. Well if that's true, then I'll use all that power to stop you."

The creature laughed to himself again, some of the other Stratomorphs joining in. In an instant, the man changed. His blue gray skin was replaced by ice white hardness. His eyes were frigid black and his smile had been swapped for a twisted sneer. Lucy knew that the "morph" part of "Stratomorph" did not only mean changing weather. The aliens themselves changed how they looked and acted. They projected their moods and wishes onto the canvases below them.

The air sizzled and popped with cracking electric energy. A storm was brewing. "Arrogant human, yes you are all the same. Think you can change the world, do you? Think you can stop the Stratomorphs? Well, where hundreds of others have failed, we will take the humans and defeat the Doctor! Yes, Doctor, we know all about you. We know about your words and your deeds. We know that Earth is your favourite planet. So here are our terms. Here is the negotiation. We will leave the Earth alone and not absorb another human right now."

The Doctor's lip was curling. Something bad was about to happen. They'd spoken of defeating him. How could they do that if they turned tail?

"Yes, Doctor, no questions asked, we will go now…if….if you give us a different source of fuel."

"And what would that be?"

"Give us the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S."

The Doctor's face fell. Lucy looked worried, but she didn't exactly know what the Heart was.

"You don't even know what you're talking about. You don't know how the Heart works. Absorbing its energy brings great power, yes. But it also brings death."

"We know what we ask for, Doctor, and we will have one or the other. So what will it be, your favourite planet, or your beloved ship? Your love or your life?"

This was not the first time the Doctor had to make such a horrible choice. A500 had asked him to choose between Lucy and Coryn, had told him he must condemn one of them to die. This was the same, only magnified by a billion.

"You so willingly brought your T.A.R.D.I.S. here, Doctor. Do you really want the destruction of yet another planet, yet another genocide on your conscience?" Now that was just plain unfair. Take the thing that he hated most about himself, the thing he'd been running from all these years and just throw it in his face. Open the wounds and pour salt in them. He bristled and shuddered as he stood there, debating. If he lost the T.A.R.D.I.S., he lost everything. If he lost the Earth, he lost everything. Or maybe not. Lucy and Juliet were right here with him-no, he couldn't even begin to think like that. He would never sacrifice those lives for his own wishes.

But how would he ever help anyone again if the T.A.R.D.I.S. was gone?

Just then, some commotion from within his beloved ship. Captain Jack Harkness rushed out from the doors, holding something that looked like a capsule. Inside it swirled golden orange energy, bursting with knowledge and power. If Lucy had to take one guess, she'd bet it was the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S.

"Stratomorphs! I have the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. condensed here in an Energy Neutralizing Capsule. If I release it, or tell you how to release it, you have your fuel. You can leave the Earth in peace." Dozens of pairs of eyes stared at the seemingly young captain. How the hell had he gotten here, Lucy wondered?

The Doctor held out his hand, eyes burning towards Jack. "What on Earth have you done? The T.A.R.D.I.S. is dead forever if you give that to them. They'll only kill us."

"But they won't kill everyone else on Earth, Doctor." The two shared a poignant look and then both looked at Lucy and Lucy knew that some understanding passed between them, some unspoken plan. How she would like to be included right about now. "Jack, I'll kill you if I have to." Lucy started at the Doctor's words, but knew that it must be part of their plan. The leader of the Stratomorphs had sheer, twisted rapture on his face.

"Then you give me no choice, Doctor." Jack lunged forward, around the Doctor who leapt for him and missed. He watched in horror (mock horror?) as Jack turned the capsule and aimed it at…Lucy? She gasped and could only stare as white-orange energy sailed toward her. She had no idea what would happen when it hit.

She felt the air rush out of her lungs and her skull felt like it was cracking apart. But wait, she hadn't absorbed the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. No, Juliet had shoved her out of the way at the last minute, shoved her right to the floor. Lucy stared up at her twin, tears in her eyes. Such understanding and wisdom had settled in her sister's face. She turned slowly, as if possessed and faced the Stratomorphs. They were all gathered in front of her, like children at assembly. She tilted her head up and closed her eyes.

Juliet Blake knew what she had to do. Behind her, she heard the Doctor gathering Jack, Lucy and himself into his ship. Lucy was not going quietly and so Juliet used her new found powers to make it happen. The heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. bestowed one with the gift to grant her own wishes. So Lucy and the others were shut safely inside the blue box. The Stratomorphs were preparing to leave, were staring in abject fear of her power. The whole ship was creaking around them like it would fall apart. That was Juliet. She'd break the ship if they didn't turn round, leave now and never return. They knew all this and were complying. She felt strong hands on her, pulling her into the T.A.R.D.I.S. This energy was consuming her and she knew she was going to die.

Jack Harkness was busy trying to absorb the Heart back out of Juliet. It would kill her. He couldn't die. That had been his reasoning all along. Well, he'd planned for Lucy to take the heart, hadn't counted on her sister shoving her out of the way. The Doctor hadn't been happy about the whole thing, but knew that they had no other choice. His mouth on Juliet's, like he was giving her CPR, or kissing her, Jack drew out the Heart. He could feel the energy passing to him, like fire going down his throat. It was already burning him up. He saw Juliet's eyes open before his world went black.

Lucy was still wiping tears from her eyes when Jack came back to life. "Didn't you know I can't die, Lucy?" he chided her.

"Of course I did. I'm crying because you almost got my sister killed!"

"And I'm crying because you meant to have all that heaped on _my _sister!" Juliet supplied. The Doctor just chortled. The twins were being over-dramatic on purpose.

"Juliet, why did you shove me out of the way?"

"Twin, I'd have done anything to help you, to save you. You're so busy saving the world all the time, someone's got to look after you. Besides, the Doctor said that no one knows exactly what the heart does. And, and people do keep talking about how you can survive and how you're going to change. I thought that maybe this was it. That either, this would be the thing that would kill you, or change you, or both, or whatever's supposed to happen. And I thought I'd stop it." Lucy stared open-mouthed at her sister. Dear lord, what if she was right? Had Lucy been destined to absorb the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S.? To be changed that way?

"The heart wouldn't have changed you, Lucy, it would have killed you if we'd let it alone. That's why Jack planned all along to absorb it back out, die, and then come back to life." The Doctor gave Lucy a fixed stare. He was pleading with her silently to not be angry with him, to forgive him for gambling with the circumstances like that. She couldn't leave him out to dry.

Lucy rose from the floor, and though her head was still pounding and her back was surely covered in bruises and her ribs were on fire, she threw herself at the Doctor, enveloping him a tight hug. He hugged her back, careful not to squeeze her too hard. Jack and Juliet stared at them for a while and when they finally let each other go, Lucy went back to her sister to hug her.

Whatever was supposed to happen, hadn't happened, or did happen, they still had each other. The Stratomorphs were gone and the rain had cleared. The T.A.R.D.I.S, its heart back inside it, was content to orbit the Earth for a while. Juliet put the kettle on and they all gathered round the console, on the floor like children.

"Wait a second, Jack." The Doctor suddenly spouted.

"Where the hell did you come from, how did you get into the T.A.R.D.I.S.?" Captain Jack looked sheepish and said,

"Got another short-range teleport from Torchwood. I used it to get to the Stratomorph's ship and then you showed up. I listened to everything everyone said and it just occurred to me. Take the choice away from you, make the Stratomorphs think they've won." Jack looked quite pleased with himself. Lucy and Juliet bit back smiles as the Doctor frowned at him.

"Remind me to tell Torchwood to never let you within a hundred meters of anyone who knows how or where to get a short-range teleport."


	30. Memory

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Lucy drummed her fingers on the table top absently, her eyes closed as she drank in all the other senses around her. The diner was almost completely empty, save the four of them.

She was sitting next to Juliet whom she could feel cross and uncross her legs under the table. On the other side of the red plastic were the Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness. In the air hung the aroma of classic diner food; greasy chips enough to make Lucy's mouth water. The lot of them had ordered fish and chips and the smell was intoxicating.

The air was a little cool for Lucy's taste, and she wished she'd brought a jacket instead of wearing the three-quarter sleeve, brown and white striped crocheted tee. The table beneath her was cool as well, and the overstuffed leather couch probably needed to be replaced.

From the kitchen came the sounds of clanking dishes, spattering liquids, noisy machines and even some yelling.

Less than twenty-four hours ago, Lucy, her twin and their two friends were trying to single-handedly defeat the Stratomorphs, shape-shifting beings who wished to use people as a means of fuel. Jack had opened the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S., contained it in an Energy Neutralizing Capsule. He'd then opened the ENC and aimed it at Lucy, who had been promptly shoved to the ground by Juliet, who in turn, absorbed the heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. In her infinite power, Juliet had sent away the Stratomorphs, and almost causing their own means of escape to crash to the ground. Once Jack had absorbed the Heart back out of her, died and come back to life, all was right again.

They'd all fallen asleep quickly afterwards and in the morning headed straight for a place where none of them would have to cook or think. Lucy couldn't help but think though. What next? Would Juliet give this life another shot and actually travel with her and the Doctor? Did Lucy want that? She knew she wanted whatever made her sister happy. But she also wanted the Doctor all to herself. Not that she thought Juliet would ever try to steal him; just that she loved it being the two of them.

And for that matter, would Jack stay with them for a while, or would he leave right away? They never seemed to be without him for long, though conversely, he never stayed long. Lucy really liked Jack despite his overenthusiastic flirting and his Juliet-like ability to leap without looking. Well, he could afford to, she supposed. Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" leaked out of the ancient speakers in the diner.

The Queen of the Lunabelsey had once told Lucy that she was destined to survive, had been the first to mention this little trait, in fact. The only ones left standing that night had been the Doctor, Jack and Lucy herself. Though her identical twin, Juliet apparently did not hold the same ability. What did all of this mean, then, for Juliet? What was it that set the twins apart? Fate? Lucy had told herself so many times she didn't believe in fate, but something, many things, kept tugging at the back of her mind. She felt that she and the Doctor were meant to meet. Meant to travel worlds together. But why would fate choose to make Lucy able to withstand anything, and leave Juliet to…to what? Was fate really so cruel? Lucy didn't need to ask twice.

She thought back to a time when they were little and felt invincible and like time would stop right where they were. They were…well that was strange. Where were they? Had they been at the beach? Perhaps in Greece? Lucy knew that she'd thought of the memory often, but couldn't seem to recall it. Had she really felt invincible? Maybe only relief? Now that was strange, Lucy had just been thinking about how the memory made her feel, and now she couldn't even recall that. Her memory had never been elephant-like, but surely something like that would be hard to forget? Unless there was never really anything special about that day at all?

"Lucy!" Lucy's head snapped up at the sound of her voice being called. The voice was female, could only be her sister's and her tone suggested that this was not the first time she'd had to call her name. Lucy shook herself slightly and looked over at her twin. Juliet furrowed her brow for a moment, discerned nothing outwardly wrong and then gestured to the table in front of her. The red plastic was now occupied by a basket containing juicy fish and chips. How could she have missed that delicious scent?

Steeling a glance across the surface of the table, Lucy saw that the Doctor and Jack were returning to their own food. Her absent-mindedness had not gone unnoticed at all. Spearing some chips on her fork, Lucy took to staring out the window. Even though she'd always liked rain, the gloomy day still gave her the chills. Drizzle was the only thing coming down from the sky though, and nothing was going up.

There was something that caught her eye though. A flash of red had grabbed at her attention and now she was staring at a woman across the street. She looked vaguely familiar, though Lucy couldn't remember ever meeting her. Perhaps her memory was just particularly faulty today. When the woman looked over the way and straight at Lucy, however, the latter knew exactly who she was. Though the woman across the street had already turned her gaze elsewhere, gotten into a taxi, Lucy Blake was fixed.

"Doctor, I-I can't believe it, I-I just saw…"

The Doctor looked up, one end of a chip hanging ridiculously out of his mouth. Juliet laughed, but when she turned and saw Lucy's stony face, all traces of mirth ceased. Even Jack leaned forward in anticipation, silent and still, but ready to strike, like a coiled snake.

"Lucy, what it is, what did you see?" The Doctor asked urgently. He knew that look. Lucy's eyes widened and she stared at only the Doctor. Her lower lip trembled, and she couldn't keep her voice from doing the same when she said, "I saw Donna Noble."

The Doctor's face fell and Jack's mouth dropped open. Only Juliet was clueless as to what that could mean. "What, is she an old friend of yours?" she asked of the Doctor. Lucy only fought back tears and Jack shot her a look that clearly said, _don't. _Juliet was trying hard not to be impatient, looking back and forth between her table companions. The Doctor would say nothing. His jaw was clenched and he stared absently in the general direction where Lucy had been staring. Lucy took it upon herself to explain to Juliet who Donna Noble was. Everything from her meeting the Doctor twice, to traveling with him, to becoming a human/Time Lord hybrid and losing her memory.

"So you see it's not just that she doesn't remember; it's that she can't. Ever. Her mind would collapse." The twins looked at each other, sharing similar lines of thinking. All those wonderful things she did, and if she remembered even for a second, it would kill her.

"That's just awful. I'm so sorry, Doctor." Juliet said to him, adding, "I can't imagine not being able to remember such a part of my life." That stirred something up inside Lucy.

Putting her hands on the table, folding them carefully she said, "Funny thing is, I had this train of thought going. And then I tried to remember something. Only I couldn't. I think it had something to do with you and me, Jules, but now I can't even be sure of that. I knew before I was thinking about New Year's Eve, about the Lunabelsey. And then, then I tried to bring up this memory. I could feel it slipping away though. It was so bizarre."

Jack looked over at Lucy, one dark eyebrow raised. "The same thing happened to me this morning. I was trying to think of…well, just like you said, I can't even remember what I was trying to remember."

"What about you, Jules, any memories disappearing?" Lucy asked, half interested, half terrified.

Juliet nodded slowly. "Yes, yes, I know I was thinking about the Heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. At least I think I was, but the same as you and Jack said. It's gone now, all of it."

The Doctor's head snapped up from looking out the window. "No. First Stratomorphs and now this?" He rose from the table, leaving the other three in his wake, confused. They all followed him quickly out the door, Juliet remembered just in time to throw some money on the table.

Outside, the drizzle persisted in its lazy attempt to make Lucy's hair frizzy. It succeeded. The Doctor was searching for something though, sonic screwdriver out and humming away. Jack was looking round too, though Lucy suspected he didn't know what he was looking for. He was tensed, however, ready for battle. As for Lucy and Juliet, they stood in the middle of the deserted street and waited.

"Doctor, are you gonna tell us what exactly is going on?" Lucy asked at last. She could only take so much waiting. Presently, he came over to her, tucking the screwdriver back into his trench coat. The way it hung perfectly on his shoulders reminded Lucy of the suit she still had to finish for him. She was making progress, but recent events had slowed her down.

"I've run into these before, a long time ago. They're called The Speichera Diebis, loosely translated as the Germanic-phrase Memory Thieves. Pretty self-explanatory, though potentially dangerous. You see, they can make you forget anything; your name, where you live; where you were going; how to breathe; who is friend and who is foe. You've all already had memories stolen from you. Thankfully, they've been memories that won't impugn your safety. So far, anyway."

"But why do they steal memories? More alien life forms living off of potential energy?" Lucy queried.

"Not this time. Each Dieb is born alone and in the dark. Their mothers lay eggs and then leave. They raise themselves, but they are lonely and bitter their whole lives. They can't steal each other's memories because they have none. So they find cozy little planets like this and take good and bad memories and use them to comfort themselves."

They sounded a lot like the Isolis, the child-like aliens that the Doctor had told Lucy about. These Diebis had stolen a memory she was pretty sure had been wonderful, and she couldn't help but feel bad for them. What must it be like to be bitter your whole life? She thought she'd feed off other people's happiness and pain as well.

"So how do we stop them?" piped up Juliet.

"Yeah, and for that matter, how do we get our memories back?" asked Jack.

The Doctor's face froze and he was running his hands through his hair again. Pacing back and forth, he started muttering under his breath. After a moment of this, he rushed over to Lucy, placing his hands round her arms. "Lucy, tell me you follow this. The Speichera Diebis take memories from people, good and bad. If we stop them and somehow find a way to get them back…"

Lucy knew where he was going with this. "You think they could give Donna her memory back? But they didn't steal hers in the first place."

"Just suppose we couldn't control it and everything came flooding back to everyone. Everything they'd ever forgotten, they suddenly remembered. That would be a lot to handle for anyone. But it would kill Donna. She can't remember."

"I know, Doctor. But what about people who have forgotten things like how to eat or drive? We can't just leave them like that."

"I know, Lucy, and I have an idea. We need to find Donna and you need to convince her to step outside. We'll, we'll knock her out or something and keep her in the T.A.R.D.I.S. and keep it away from the Earth, or at least away from London. Then we can get everyone's memories back and send them on their way. And then, we can deliver Donna back to her family."

"Okay, how do you plan on getting the Sp-Speichera Diebis to give everything back? Just…ask nicely? And how will you keep Donna safe and sound in the T.A.R.D.I.S. at the same time?"

"Leave the Diebis to me. You are going to handle Donna. Like I said, get her out, get her unconscious, into the T.A.R.D.I.S. and then fly away until I tell you to come back down." Lucy frowned.

"Brilliant. Except for a few holes. I can't fly the T.A.R.D.I.S., for one." The Doctor gave her a pointed look. He had showed her how, sort of and she sort of remembered. She was sure he'd give her some reminders and have Juliet help her. After all, Donna couldn't see Jack either. "Also, if we're keeping Donna away from the Earth so that she doesn't get her memory back, and I'm inside, I won't get mine back either." Another look told her everything she needed to know. "And that's exactly what you're asking of me."

"I'm so sorry, Lucy, really I am, but I don't see a way around it." He looked pained, hurt at having to deprive her of something like that. Oh well, Lucy thought. It was one memory, and she would do this for him. Juliet took her hand and looked her dead in the eye. Lucy knew that Juliet was just as willing to sacrifice; proof of her love for Lucy, if not for the Doctor.

"You sure, Jules?"

"Yeah, twin. Anyway, I don't really need to remember about the Heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. It wasn't meant for me anyway." There goes talk of fate and _meant for _again, Lucy thought.

Minutes later, Lucy and Juliet were flying the afore-mentioned ship, with help from the Doctor. It was even more shaky and bumpy than usual, but they got the job done, with only a few casualties, namely scratched cars and scared cats. They dropped Jack and the Doctor off, both of whom would go looking for the Diebis. After making the Doctor promise to be careful, Lucy and Juliet made sure that the ship was in a secure place. They weren't far from Donna Noble's house and had a plan.

Lucy strode up the walk, heart beating a violent tattoo against her throat. She was about to meet the most important person in the universe. How could she ever keep from crying, or worse, confessing everything? She knocked against the door, praying that Donna would answer. No need to deal with the relatives. Luck is in, she thought, as she saw red hair approaching in the small glass window. Smiling brightly as the door opened, Lucy extended her hand and said, just as she had rehearsed it, "Hello there, Donna Noble? My name is Lucy Blake, with Elle Magazine. We're doing a special spot this issue about the local working class. There's a section for temps, and several of your previous employers have nominated you as a prime candidate." She tried to beam excitement from every pore. Donna gave her a suspicious look and said, "Sorry, what is it you want exactly?"

"Oh, nothing too stressful, my love, just a quick photo shoot, some Q and A and then, bam! You're in a magazine!" She even added a flirty little giggle at the end. Donna seemed to perk up when Lucy had said "photo shoot." Brilliant.

"Well, sounds alright to me, let me just get-"

"Nonsense, you're fine as you are!" Lucy said, grabbing Donna by her wrist and leading her toward her car which Juliet was crouched behind.

"You know, you sure are strong for such a tiny little-" and then Donna's voice cut off as Juliet did her part, slipped behind her and covered her mouth with a cloth soaked in a moderate sedative. Not chloroform, which had seemed too drastic. Wordlessly, the twins lifted Donna and carried her back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.

The Doctor had his screwdriver out again, looking for traces of spent memory and Diebis aura. Warmer, warmer, cooler again, cold, frigid, okay back the other direction, warmer, hot, boiling! He took off East, Jack hot on his tail. The Doctor was taking a more aggressive route than he normally liked to in these situations. Lucy and Juliet would have to sedate Donna in order to ensure her safety. She couldn't even look at the T.A.R.D.I.S., let alone know that she was there. And as for the Speichera Diebis, he was going to do something cruel. He had to. Aside from killing them, it was the only thing he could do. He'd whipped up a concoction that could fit inside an attachment on his screwdriver and would turn to vapour when he pressed down on the button. This vapour would essentially give them a taste of their own medicine. Back would be projected the images or loneliness, abandon, hurt, images from their childhoods, forcing them to relive it. Experiencing these memories as he increased the intensity on the screwdriver would force them to expel everything they'd taken in, or even remotely picked up on. When even Jack had frowned at this method, the Doctor only stated again that he knew how cruel it was. After all, they couldn't help their lot.

And there, at the end of the avenue stood three beings, hooded and cloaked in black. They held hands, as if bracing themselves for what was to come. The Doctor felt a horrible stab of guilt. He had to force himself to remember that despite their child-like need for affection, they had caused great suffering. They were capable of killing, and didn't care who they hurt as long as they got what they wanted.

Behind him, Jack said, "You don't think we should have invested in some tin hats? They can still mess with our minds, right?" The Doctor looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Jack. Tin hats? Really?

He turned back to the Speichera Diebis and as they stepped forward, he knew he couldn't even give them a chance to speak. He slid home the vial of memory-inducing liquid into the open portal of the sonic screwdriver. Pressing the button, the viscous material instantly vapourised and shot directly at the three Thieves. The look of shock on the three faces was enough to wrench at the Doctor's hearts. Their hands clasped tighter as they tried to fight off the onslaught of wavelengths threatening their fragile psyches. Simultaneously, they all went utterly rigid, their hands still clenched tight. An almost perceptible wave flowed out from them in thousands of sinewy tendrils. The Doctor saw one of these tendrils latch onto Jack. Jack's face clearly explained that he was receiving the memories they'd taken and ones long since forgotten. He even saw three tendrils reach out to the sky, searching for their targets. They couldn't last long however, all memories must fade, and the tendrils dissipated into the drizzly air. The Thieves themselves were fading. The Doctor caught their last echo and turned to Jack.

He could see a thousand emotions on Jack's face. "It's a lot to deal with, I know."

Jack looked up at him, uncharacteristically shaken and said, "Yeah, it is. You said everyone would remember everything they'd forgotten. A lifetime of memories come back to them. Well, I've lived longer than most. What about you, Doctor? You don't seem…different."

"I've never really forgotten anything, Jack. It's all up here." He said, tapping his head. Jack smiled that boyish grin of his and the two of them set off on foot for Donna's house. En route, the Doctor sent a call to Lucy's mobile and she assured him that all had gone according to plan.

He watched the T.A.R.D.I.S. come into view, colliding into buildings and threatening to blow off course. But the twins managed to land her safely and came outside, carrying the still unconscious Donna. Jack rushed over and relieved the two women of their burden. The Doctor went up to the front door and aimed the screwdriver at it. The lock clicked open and the four of them crept inside. The Doctor directed Jack to Donna's room and he left to place her there. When he came back out, he and Juliet headed back to the ship. Lucy looked over at the weary Time Lord, sorrow etched in his face. "We should go, Doctor, before she wakes up." He nodded, still leaning against the door frame, unable to bring himself to actually walk back out of it. Movement coming from the kitchen spurred the two of them, but the Doctor stopped when he saw that it was Donna's grandfather.

Wilfred was looking at a face he thought he'd never see again. As always, the Doctor didn't look a day older than the last time he'd seen him. This time he was with a pretty young woman. She looked uncomfortable and shifted on her feet, clearly debating whether or not to go. Wilfred stuck out his hand to her. "Wilfred Noble, Miss."

"Lucy Blake. The Doctor told me all about you and Donna." Wilfred nodded, flattered that the man had mentioned him. The man in question spoke softly, not wanting to wake Donna.

"Something happened that threatened to give Donna's memories back. But don't worry, we took care of it. She's under a mild sedative now, she should wake up soon." Wilfred nodded, never quite sure what to say to this man. He looked instead over at Lucy Blake and saw that there were tears in her eyes.

"Now, now, pet, don't cry. I know it seems terrible that Donna can't remember any of this, but she's good. Her life is good. And there are people out there who are better because of her, and there are people like you who know about her." The Doctor had told him something very like this, the day he'd showed up on the doorstep, in the rain. All the same, Lucy's pain reminded him of the reality of it all. It was surprisingly easy to act like everything had always been normal. But here were living reminders of the life his granddaughter had had.

The sound of stirring came from Donna's bedroom and the three in the entryway made their hasty but heartfelt goodbyes. Lucy and the Doctor walked hand in hand back to the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy with her free hand wiping at her eyes. Juliet gave her a sympathetic look, and Jack stiffened his jaw and nodded knowingly at the Doctor.

It was days like this that made Lucy grateful for all the wonderful days she had with the Doctor. Because today, she had felt unwavering empathy for a seemingly helpless enemy. Today she had met the most important person in the universe, who had one of the saddest stories she'd ever heard. Today, Lucy Blake had gotten a glimpse of her potential future. Life with the Doctor was fleeting, or so she'd been told, and never quite ended the way you wanted it to (because it ended at all). Though she wasn't sure what this hag called Fate had in store for her, something was about to change, she could feel it. She had those dreams about clocks every night. The Life Matter's words always echoed in her head long after she woke up.

But as the Doctor pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and holding on tight, she couldn't help but think that it was all worth it.


	31. Saturn

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The Doctor was quiet for a long time after leaving Donna's house. He stood, leaning against the controls, as if for support, staring at them as if they held the answers to his many questions. Lucy looked over at him for the umpteenth time. "Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?" she asked, somewhat timidly. He looked up at her for the briefest second, then answered her, staring at her feet.

"Yeah. I'm always all right." Lucy frowned and seemed to take this as a cue. She ushered Jack and Juliet down the hallway and to her room. Juliet perched herself on the end of Lucy's bed, Jack sat at her studio chair, elbow on the desk completely strewn with material, scissors, sketches and thread. Lucy herself leaned against her closed door and then sank slowly down to the floor, elbows resting on her knees. She'd seen the Doctor quiet. She'd seen him upset. She'd seen him angry. But she had never seen him quite like this. Than man standing back there at the controls was a defeated shell of the magnificent Time Lord she knew. And she'd give anything to have that man back, because a hopeless Doctor scared her. She needed something to snap him back into himself. She needed him to be her Doctor again, the one she loved with all her heart. Perhaps that was selfish, not wanting him to be vulnerable. But then, what did that mean for her? He fixed everything; it just wasn't natural for him to be like this.

Wordlessly, she stood and crossed the room, nudging Jack out of the studio chair. He looked confused for a moment, but went to sit down next to Juliet. He put his arm around her shoulders and she did not shrug him off.

Lucy pulled the unfinished suit out of her closet and laid it out on the desk. Sewing machine purring to life, she finished the last bits of the jacket. She'd had to sneak into his massive wardrobe to find his measurements. He'd worn some pretty outrageous clothes in his long lifetime, she assumed from previous regenerations. At least, she didn't think he'd ever worn a suit with a stalk of celery attached to it round her.

He'd told her all about regeneration. That the last time he'd done it, Rose had absorbed the Heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and couldn't control it, just as Juliet had done. That was how she'd made Jack unable to die. The Doctor had absorbed the Heart back out of her, but it still killed him in a matter of speaking. And he changed into the form she knew and loved. He said that Time Lords only got twelve regenerations. And he was on the tenth version of himself. She hoped that he never needed any more. When she thought about his generation, she grew depressed and scared. He would live for so long after she was gone. She couldn't really picture herself traveling with him as a seventy-year-old woman. But then, she'd never been able to imagine herself old at all. She certainly couldn't picture herself being without the Doctor. But one of those things had to happen. As Lucy hemmed the legs of the suit's trousers, she tried once again to imagine herself as an old woman. Nothing. Completely blank. "Jules?" she asked, not looking up from her work.

"What's that, Lucy?"

"What do you see when you imagine life, I dunno, fifty years from now?"

"Well, I suppose I've settled down. I'm in a cozy little house in the country. I've got a good man and three kids just like I've always wanted; two boys and a girl. And they'd all have kids of their own at this point."

"But what about you? What are you like, what have you done? What is your life like?"

"I've traveled, I guess. I dunno, I always thought that maybe I'd be a teacher. I could teach English, don't you think? Or maybe Geography? At this point, I might be able to teach Human-Alien relations. But fifty years from now, I'd guess my life was quiet mostly. I'd be tired of all my adventures, I'd tell stories of all the things I'd done to my grandchildren. Why, Lucy, what's brought all this on?"

Lucy was smiling at her twin's imagined but realistic future. She could see that that was the life people had imagined for Lucy herself. She had, after all, always been the more practical twin. Juliet had been the one for adventure. But the tables were turning now. Lucy was spontaneous and loved danger and Juliet was already thinking of country cottages and knitting. How things had changed since she'd met the Doctor.

"You see, Jules, I've never been able to imagine that far into my future. I thought about what I wanted to do, sure. I've always wanted to dance, and then I found designing and wanted to do that. And I did, I am a designer, even if I don't work as one anymore. But all my life I've tried to think about myself as an old woman and it doesn't work. It turns out to be like some film or something. And now, when I try I don't even get that far. It's blank, like well, like it's not meant to be. Like I'm not ever meant to get old."

Jack was frowning and Juliet's eyes were wide, her mouth falling open. Luc knew of course, that Jack would eventually get old and die, but it would take millions of years and he would be the Face of Boe by then.

"How can you even say that, Lucy! Of course you're going to get old. I don't care what the universe has been telling you, they've all got it wrong! You're not going to change and you're not going to die! Especially not that. I won't let it happen."

Lucy got up from the now finished suit and went over to the bed to hug her sister. "I know you won't, Jules." She said, but after that, she let the conversation die. As Lucy went about finding hangers and a garment bag, Jack steered them in a more welcome direction.

"What exactly is that, Lucy?"

Lucy looked down at the blue suite pinstriped with pale grey. "I haven't been designing anything lately, with all my talk of it. And I wanted to challenge myself. I usually make women's clothes, so this time I decided to make a suit. And then, while I was at it, I decided to give it to the Doctor. You know, with everything he's done for me and all." It was mostly the truth. She'd been intending to give the Doctor something all along. But she wasn't about to admit her feelings for him to Jack. She was sure Juliet knew the whole truth, twin-tuition as they called it.

Just as Lucy had the zipper up the leather garment bag, her door burst open. She quickly stashed suit in her armoire; it was closer than her closet. She sat down on her studio chair, covering up her sketch with her arm.

The Doctor was staring at all of them, fervor in his eyes again, a purpose in his gait and that static energy Lucy felt every time he looked at her. He was back.

"What are all of you sitting round here for? Come on, let's go!"

They dashed out Lucy's door and watched as the Doctor flitted madly about, pushing buttons and pulling levers. Lucy would have tried to help him, but she just liked seeing back to his old self again so much.

"Where are we going then?" Lucy and Juliet asked simultaneously. The Doctor smiled at the twins and said,

"Not too far from home, relatively speaking anyway. I don't think any of you have been to Saturn?"

The twins exchanged incredulous looks and Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "How could any of us have been to Saturn, Doctor? It's made of gas and there's millions of asteroids in the way anyway."

"Not so," said the Doctor. "Well, not about the gas anyway, there_ are _loads of asteroids. But those we can get through. And the planet is not made of gas, its atmosphere is. That's just a cover."

"Atmosphere? It doesn't have an atmosphere!" Juliet declared at the same time as Lucy said,

"Cover? What cover? You're telling me there's intelligent life on Saturn?"

"Yes, Juliet, there is an atmosphere on Saturn. It's mostly comprised of hydrogen. And yes, Lucy, the race there uses the whole "Saturn is less dense than water thing" as a cover to make the rest of the universe think they don't exist. They just want to be left alone, the Saturnians."

"Saturnians? Really?" asked Juliet.

"Yeah. Saturnians. On the planet Saturn. They're farmers and merchants mostly, Saturn is named for the Roman god of agriculture after all."

"Saturn was a Titan, not a god. Shame on you, Doctor." Lucy jibed coyly. The Doctor smirked at her and gave her a wink. "So, Doctor, it's not every day I get to travel to the second largest planet in my solar system. How's about opening the door and giving us a peek?" She had come up beside him and gave him a nudge in the ribs. He shook his head in mock exasperation as he opened the doors. Jack stayed behind while the twins sat on the edge like children, watching as dozens of asteroids came rushing at them. Every time one got really close, they'd flinch and laugh, knowing that they were well out of harm's way.

"All right, you two, we're landing, I've got to close up."

The twins helped each other up from the threshold and retreated into the absolute sanctuary that was the T.A.R.D.I.S. And sure enough, Lucy soon felt the resounding thud that meant they'd hit something solid.

Lucy stepped outside the ship and found that the air was pleasant. She half expected that they would all have to walk about in space suits. But the air was warm and there was even a slight breeze. It was perfect for the thin black leggings, dark grey tweed shorts she'd made herself and graphic black T-shirt she wore. The ground beneath her black leather not-quite-cowboy boots was red and dusty, loosely packed. She made a mental note to clean the boots thoroughly once they got back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.

They had to walk for some time before they saw anything recognizable. Lucy didn't know quite what she was expecting, but it sure wasn't this.

They were walking through a town. It was sort of primitive, but it was definitely a town. The houses had thatched roofs, and all the walls were made of earth. But strangest of all were the people. There was no reason for them to be strange, except that they were in this setting.

They were human. They had to be. Looked like them, talked like them, dressed like them, except that they lived on Saturn and were called Saturnians. Lucy couldn't help but let her mouth fall slightly open and knew that Juliet's was doing the same thing. The breeze pick up a little, making chimes sound somewhere off to Lucy's right and sending goose pimples up her arms. She took out her mobile and was surprised to find that she had service. She didn't know why she was surprised; she'd gotten it everywhere else, including in different time periods. But this was Saturn!

The Doctor was striding down the street as if he owned the whole bloody planet. Jack was flanking him, looking for all the world like a body guard hanging close to his charge's shoulder. Lucy and Juliet felt twin flutters of nerve in their hearts and exchanged worried glances. As if affirming their sense of foreboding, they reached for each other's hands simultaneously.

No sooner had they done this than the Saturnians seemed to take notice of them. People paused in their destinations to stare and whisper behind their hands. It was only now that Lucy could see the markings on the back of each of their hands. They were the same colour as the loose earth they kicked up as they walked. The images appeared to be tattooed on, but she hardly presumed to know the mechanics of it. The images themselves were all star maps. Lucy counted seven orbs surrounding the largest in the centre. Saturn and its seven major satellites, perhaps? She'd be damned if she could recall the names of any of them though. One of the tattooed hands pointed directly at the four of them. Lucy looked up at the owner of the hand. He was a stern, middle-aged looking man. His eyes were wide with fear, however and his hand trembled as he beheld them. Great, Lucy thought. This could not end well.

The woman standing at his side snapped her more firm fingers and the town's apparent brute force was on them. Six hulking men came forward, with purpose in their gait. Two each to Jack and the Doctor and one for Lucy and Juliet apiece. Lucy could think only of kicking and screaming as the next logical thing to do. Juliet seemed to have shared this thought. Jack didn't look happy. But otherwise was as compliant as the Doctor, who walked s though there weren't two huge men threatening to crush his bones in their steadfast grip.

"Well, they sure know how to roll out the welcome wagon here." Said Jack loudly. "I guess they really don't take kindly to strangers." One of Jack's guards gave him a shove on the back that looked like it could have dislocated his spine. It wouldn't have done much good, even if it did.

They were led to a scaffold in the centre of what looked to be Town Square. One long flight of steps took them to a raised platform bearing a long bench. They were all made to sit on the bench, their guards behind them, tying their hands behind their backs. The guards stood at attention when they were finished and waited for the town to assemble.

"Doctor, the markings on their hands, am I right in thinking they're star maps? Saturn's moons?"

The Doctor nodded, his eyes never leaving the gathering crowd before him. "The major ones anyway. Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan and Iapetus. I have no idea why they have them, before you ask. I told you, they're a secretive bunch."

The buzzing of the excited crowd died down as the man and woman who had begun this whole thing stepped to the front, directly before the scaffold.

Lucy felt herself sit up a little straighter. The woman looked harshly from one to the next. She had deep rust red hair and her dark eyes might have had flecks of gold in them. Her skin was dark russet, like most of the people here. She would have been beautiful if Lucy wasn't sure she was about to deliver her death sentence.

"Strangers!" she called out in a ringing voice. The Saturnians behind her threw up their fists and yelled, the militaristic unity giving Lucy the chills. "Before we decide what to do with you, tell us how you got here in the first place."

The three of them all looked towards the Doctor. When he spoke, his voice was even and calm. "By ship. My T.A.R.D.I.S. brought us here, 'cause I told it to."

"And how did you know where to find us, or that we could even be found?"

"Saturn is a very well known planet in these three's solar system. They didn't know you lot were here, I told them that. I'm enormously clever, you see."

The woman bristled and her lip curled. The Doctor was dancing circles round her intimidation tactics and she didn't like it one bit.

"What is your intent here?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Sightseeing mostly. We've had a lot of troubles lately and I thought we'd nip over to Saturn for some R and R. That's where I was wrong, I suppose." The Doctor finished with a grin and the woman clenched her fists. Her slow breathing indicated her conscious resistance of climbing the stairs and smacking the Doctor across the face. She stepped back and the man took her place.

"And what of these two? The copies?" he said, indicating Lucy and Juliet. The twins looked at each other, stunned. Copies?

"You mean there's no such thing as twins here? Shame really." Said Jack. The man threw Jack a dark look but continued.

"We have children here who are born to one mother simultaneously. They are called 'copies.' But these two are different. They look the same but inside…"

Great. Yet another alien race telling Lucy about her mysterious quirk. How did they know? How could they tell? "Save it!" she yelled from the platform. All eyes turned to her, including the three pairs she sat with.

"You're about to tell me there's something different about me, that something about me leads you to believe I'm designed to survive. How do you know, hoe does everyone but me know?" she was quite tired of it, this ability. The man looked stunned, but at least willing to address her.

"I could ask the same thing of you, girl. How could you know what I was about to tell you? Is prophecy common where you come from?"

"That's not it. Almost everywhere I go, people who've never met me tell me that I can survive, that me and my sister are different from each other. Well I'm tired of it. There's nothing special about me, and if there is, I want to know how everyone else can tell."

The Saturnian continued to look with surprise at Lucy, as though dumbfounded by her very existence. She hated him all the more for it. "Child, it is in your very presence. Everything about you suggests it. It is how one knows to teach his children, how one knows to avoid things deemed dangerous to his health. Intuition, some call it."

"Well no one told me about it until recently. No one…never mind. I'm tired to the whole thing. You don't have my answers." Lucy shook her head slightly and sulked. For the first time, a very small part of her felt the urge to go home and stay there. In London, no one had looked at her as thought she shouldn't exist. On Earth, no one had commented on her strange physiology. In fact, no one had even known it was there.

If presented the opportunity, however, Lucy knew she would never choose to go home. She would always travel with the Doctor. Even for times like these.

The man and woman, the town leaders, apparently, were talking in low voices. Lucy couldn't help but hear them anyway.

"She unnerves me, Saoul. She and the tall one. He is more powerful than he lets on, and she…well I don't know just what it is about her. Let's just let them go, and make them promise to never come back."

"I know, Rinna, they unsettle me as well. But think of everything we could learn from them."

"I won't! Just have them released now." Rinna was fierce, even in fear. Lucy would opt for anything that would get them out of here though. Saoul turned to them and announced to everyone,

"Strangers, you will be let go this one time. If you return, however, rest assured you will not make it out of here alive. Consider yourselves banished." He jutted his jaw forward and the guards untied their hands, not happy about letting them get off practically scott-free. Lucy rubbed her sore wrists and threw her arms round her sister once she was facing her.

"I mean it, you know. You and me are no different, if I'm meant to survive, so are you. The rest of the universe just doesn't know you as well, that's all." She finished off with a weak smile. Juliet gave her a squeeze but then released her.

"No, twin. We are different. I don't know exactly what everyone else means about you, and I can't pretend I like it, but I think they're right. It's okay though. You and me will always be okay." Lucy frowned as her sister followed Jack and the Doctor down the stairs. With a bone rattling shove forward from a guard, Lucy stumbled none too gracefully from the scaffold. When she regained her footing, the Doctor's arm found her and circled her shoulders. They walked like this with their guard escort all the way back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. Lucy was sure that their escort was to prevent them from wandering about the rest of Saturn unchecked. As if she wanted to stay a second longer on this planet. She'd be happy to leave the ringed giant and its many moons in her dust.

Back inside, and once Jack and Juliet had gone off to put the kettle on, the Doctor completely enfolded Lucy in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and she rested her weary head on his shoulders as her own hands came up around him.

"What do they all mean, Doctor? I'm really nothing special!" she breathed into his shoulder.

"Of course you are, you're brilliant." He said, pulling slightly away from her. "But I know what you're saying, and I'd tell you in a heartbeat if I knew what they meant."

It wasn't a lie, not really. Because the Doctor did have some idea what the universe meant about Lucy Blake and he was in no way about to tell her. He didn't know how it would happen, or what would start it, or when, but he wasn't going to have it weigh on her mind. He loved her too much to let that happen.


	32. Stubborn

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It was Lucy's turn to be sulky and distant from the rest of the group. Jack had tried to cheer her up with flirting and childish banter. Juliet had offered a sister's understanding and warmth. The Doctor had stared at her, sometimes like she was a particularly difficult puzzle and sometimes like he was trying to telepathically soothe her.

Lucy was shut in her room, moping as she hadn't done in a long time. She knew it was wrong to feel sorry for herself. But she was going to do it anyway. Sure, she could have it a lot worse than getting strange and cryptic hints about her destiny creeping across time and space, but it was creepy and unsettling. How did all these people know? It had started with the Queen of the Lunabelsey, had been noticed by Mr. Finch, had been foretold in a dream by her dead mother, had been commented upon by a village elder on the planet Rhea Gaia. Then the deal-clincher, so to speak, was the Life Matter telling her that everything she'd been hearing was true. And things got more blatant after that. A rescued girl from a witch hunt had turned out to be more prophetic that originally thought, a psychic had told her she was going to die and in that same day Pyranor had told her how special she was. And most recently, Saturnians had all but wanted to keep her and study her for her crazy DNA.

Was it DNA though? As much as she didn't want to believe in a pre-determined plan, what else could have happened? How else could she have met the Doctor? Sure, she was being curious as always, but what were the odds that she'd suddenly shed her cautious shield as soon as she even saw the man who would change her life?

And speak of the devil, a knock came on her door and without waiting for an answer, it inched open. The Doctor's face was almost timid, if it could even capture such a feeling. He didn't want to anger her, or barge in on her sobbing or anything and she knew it. She looked calmly at him from her desk; right arm still using the wood surface as a support. With one eyebrow raised, remaining silent, the Doctor knew he was on safe ground.

"We've got a distress signal from very far away, thought we'd better check it out."Lucy rose from her chair, concern etching its way through her brows, causing her to bite her lower lip yet again. Before she could head completely out the door and down the hallway however, the Doctor put his hands upon the frame of the door, barring her way. She looked up at him confused.

"Lucy, I know all this is hard on you-"

"Doctor, really, I'm okay. Let's go, where is it you said this signal is coming from?"

"Lucy." He looked down at her, straight in the eyes and she stopped trying to edge around him. "Lucy, I know none of this has been easy on you. Traveling with me, leaving Juliet behind, having all these…rumours crop up."

"Doctor, you know I wouldn't trade any of this for the world. Life with you is sheer insanity but I love it. And Juliet understands, probably more than I really appreciate."

"I know all that. But I just, just wanted to make sure you were okay before we left anywhere. To be honest, I don't know what to expect about the people we meet anymore. I don't know who's going to pick up on something about you, whatever it is. It could happen here too."

"I'm aware of that. I figure I'll just assume everyone knows so I won't ever be surprised." The Doctor laughed and his hands fell from the door frame. He started to turn when Lucy spoke again.

"Do you really not know what they mean, Doctor? You have no idea why everyone keeps saying all this about me."

The Doctor turned back to her, wrapping her in his arms so fast, she didn't even have time to react. He held her for a second and as her arms circled him he said, "I think I do sometimes, but it's, it's so fleeting, so vague, I couldn't even begin to give you an idea."

"Would you though, if you could? Would you tell me what was going to happen?"

"I don't know, Lucy, I really don't know."

"I'm nothing special, you know." She said into his chest.

"Of course you are, how many times do I have to tell you how brilliant you are?"

"At least one more, I suppose." They both laughed and headed down the hallway together, Lucy leading the way. Juliet and Jack both smiled when she came in and Lucy couldn't help but feel a bit like a patronised child.

"So, Doctor, you never told me exactly where we're going. Somewhere far away?"

"Very far away. We're going to the 71st century. All the way to Omega Centauri, to the fifth planet in the system. It's called Quintus. It's not even a proper galaxy anymore, not now nor in the future; the Milky Way sort of cannibalized it. And it is old, very old. In fact, it's collapsing and the Centauri have sent out distress signals everywhere. They want out."

"So we're going to get them out right?" said Juliet.

"You've got it, my dear."

Omega Centauri was a curious sort of place. Absolutely everything was old. Ancient. Decaying. Decrepit. Lucy was chilled, and something at the back of her mind told her to be alert, ready. Every building was falling apart, rubble sometimes tumbling into their path which was already littered with debris. Even the sky and the atmosphere seemed old. Swirling milky clouds hung oppressively in the air which hung close about them, cloying even. The sun was very far away from this planet, a distant pinprick hovering above them. Lucy and Juliet stayed close together, freezing to their bones. Even Jack was seen to let a shudder pass down his shoulders once in a while. Only the Doctor seemed unperturbed. The only betrayal of any feelings of utter frigidity was the hair standing up on the back of his neck. Or maybe that was anticipation.

If Lucy had to describe this place, she'd say it looked like the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Then hit that with an atomic bomb. Then let things sit in their ruined manner for about a thousand years. A thick layer of dust covered everything, marked through with footprints. Not all of them were theirs. Lucy wondered exactly how many Centauri were left. From the footprints, she could tell that their feet at least were humanoid. They ranged in size much like humans' did, if only slightly more narrow. As she shivered, she wondered when they'd happen upon the unlucky creatures. No sooner had the though crossed her mind when they did indeed, happen upon them. About a dozen and a half people stood in a circle. They all looked up as the four strangers approached. Lucy for one was glad to see that there was trace of neither hostility nor abject fear in their glances. Some looked quite hopeful in fact, others merely relieved. Had they thought that no one would come? That they would be doomed to die here alone? Most likely.

Lucy was somewhat horrified to see that among the eighteen gathered here, five were children. They had to be. The Centauri themselves even looked old, the children included. Though they had no wrinkles, no age spots, their carriage suggested wisdom and experienced that could rival the Doctor's. Their eyes held pain and understanding and knowledge. The five children, three boys and two girls all barely came to Lucy's waist. Their hair was white, all eighteen of them, and hung to their hips. They all had high foreheads, cheekbones, straight noses and almond shaped eyes that were as black as sin. Their ears were slightly too small for their heads and they all seemed a bit shorter than the average human. In terms of figure, they were stocky, even the children. Through their coarse tunics and trousers could be seen defined muscles, capable of taking any of them on.

One of the children, a girl, came up to Lucy and placed her hand into Lucy's waiting palm. A boy did the same to Juliet and the Doctor and Jack were left to trail behind them.

"What's your name?" Lucy said, looking down at the girl, trying not to sound patronising. Her grip was firm and Lucy was sure that she was more than capable of breaking bones.

"Jireeda." She said and her voice was melodic. "And yours is something… relatively short, it's shorter than your sister's anyway. And it begins with an 'L'. Yes?"

Lucy started and pulled her hand from Jireeda's grasp. "How did you do that?" she hissed. She stole a glance over at Juliet to see if her boy companion had made any observations about her. Juliet was smiling and listening to the boy who was talking animatedly.

"Jireeda is a low-level psychic, like her mother Anla." said a man's voice close to Lucy. He was the tallest of the bunch, though still shorter than Jack.

Wonderful, Lucy thought, another blasted psychic latching herself on to me. "Well you had it right, Jireeda. I'm Lucy. And my sister is Juliet. Nice to meet you." Jireeda only smiled amicably; apparently oblivious to the fact that Lucy was jittery as a squirrel.

"Well, Doctor," she said, leaning toward him. He had only just come up beside her from talking to the rest of the group. "What's the prognosis? Stick 'em all in the T.A.R.D.I.S. and bring them somewhere safe? Or do they have a rocket handy?"

The Doctor looked frustrated, like he wanted for once for something to be simple. Lucy knew that feeling all too well.

"Well, we've run into a bit of a snag."

"Of course we have."

"There are some members of the group who don't want to leave at all. They want to go down with the ship, so to speak."

"Are they mad? They'll get pulled into a black whole or obliterated or something!"

"I know that. They know that. They've offered to let the ones who want to leave go, but the problem is some of the ones who don't want to leave are the oldest and wisest of the bunch. And so, some of the others who originally did want to leave now don't want to abandon or disappoint the elders."

"You're making my head spin. Can't we just, I dunno, try and convince them that the best thing to do is try to start a new life on a new planet?"

"Well, I'd love to, Lucy, I really would but I'm afraid I've upset them."

"Doctor, what did you do now?"

"I told them they were fools for clinging onto their dead civilisation and fools for condemning themselves to die."

Lucy only gave him an exasperated look. He in turn looked sheepish and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well let me and Juliet try then." She said under her breath. She walked forward without waiting for a comment from the Doctor and grabbed Juliet's elbow as she went. Juliet seemed to understand without Lucy debriefing her. Perhaps the boy had said something. Perhaps psychic Jireeda had talked to her whilst Lucy was conversing with a Time Lord.

"Um, hello, everyone. I'm Lucy Blake and this is my sister Juliet. Anyway we got the message one of you sent us, saying that you needed help. Well, our, our ship can hold all of you, it's bigger than it seems."

"See, the thing is," chimed in Juliet, "This planet's gonna…well it's doomed. You all know that, and, and me and Lucy both think it's really noble that some of you want to stay here and, well, go down with it. But there's so much you have to offer. The universe really shouldn't lose you."

Lucy nodded and added, "There are loads of places you could go. Barcelona for one, that's an immigrant planet, there are scores of people there. You don't have to let everything die with the planet."

"Please don't let everything die with the planet." Juliet pleaded. Some of the Centauri looked mollified, but some, no doubt the elders, merely looked down their noses at them. The twins exchanged looks; they had no idea what else to do. They couldn't exactly force anyone anywhere.

One of the Centauri, a woman who looked to be a thousand years old or more, stepped forward. Her gait was liquid, more like she was a teenager than an old woman. "Children, you do not understand. Our planet is older than your entire solar system. Yes, we know of the Milky Way. Our knowledge of the Universe will not die with us; there are countless Centauri spread across the skies."

"Then let us reunite you with them!" cried Jack from behind the girls.

"You're not helping, Captain." retorted Juliet.

"At least let us take the younger ones, the children." Lucy begged quietly.

"They are not as young as they seem. Finlock, that boy who was talking to you, Juliet, is the youngest at seven hundred years old."

Neither Lucy nor Juliet showed surprise upon learning the staggering age of the "children." Lucy only looked straight into this woman's black eyes and said, "Please."

The woman pursed her lips and her ancient brow furrowed. "Hamlin?" she called behind her whilst still looking at the twins, "Ready the children and go with them into the ship. Anyone else who wishes to join them can." Hamlin, the man who had spoken to Lucy first ushered the children in front of him and down the road, toward the open doors of the T.A.R.D.I.S.

"I'll go with them, make sure they're all alright." Juliet said and Lucy nodded. Anla, Jireeda's mother and several others left upon seeing their children leaving them. Jack left to help Juliet as well. Lucy and the Doctor waited with the nine remaining elders.

The Doctor now took the lead, placing his hand on Lucy's shoulder as he walked up beside her.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said, but please, please let us take you somewhere safe. Lucy was right about Barcelona, they'd more than welcome you."

"You can't understand, Doctor. This has been our home for thousands of years and our people have lived here for trillions of years. Some say we are as old as the universe, or close to it. How can you ask us to leave that behind? You don't know that kind of pain." said a very short man standing in the centre of the group.

The Doctor looked deeply morose, and said in a hushed tone that was barely above a whisper, "Oh, but I do. Gallifrey was taken from me a long time ago. I even caused it to go away; I destroyed it because I had to. I lost my home, my family, my friends. I am literally the only one left of my species. Time Lords are all but extinct. Please don't let that happen to you. You're right, the Centauri of some of the oldest in the universe, so don't let it claim you. Live, _please_!" Lucy's jaw was clenched and she bit her tongue hard while the Doctor spoke. How it must hurt him to talk about Gallifrey and everything that had happened to him like this. But now that they understood that he'd been through much the same, would they listen? Would they leave?

Two of the Centauri, a man and woman, walked arm in arm down the dusty, debris riddled path. Another woman followed in their wake and a man hesitantly strode forward once they were out of sight. He gained confidence when his friend came up behind him and walked with him the rest of the way. Only four to go, Lucy thought. The short elder, the woman she and Juliet had spoken to, and two other men stood stubbornly in the frozen air. They were as immoveable as mountains, as rooted and sure as rivers, as certain as the sun. Lucy couldn't help it; she let a single tear fall from her eye as she looked round the desolate setting. She tried to blame it on the cold, but knew that it was the stirring thought of believing so firmly in something, being so attached, that you would die for it. She knew that was how she felt about the Doctor.

And perhaps these Centauri were moved by her tears. Or perhaps not. At any rate, the two men to whom she had not spoken gathered themselves and took one last look about their home, bidding it goodbye, before they left the lonesome planet. Lucy had to stifle more sobs. The courage it took to knowingly say goodbye to not only your home, but the ground on which it stood, the sky that kissed it, the memories that would never truly die.

"At least come and say goodbye to everyone." The Doctor said, looking at them from under his brows. After a long moment of silence, the two Centauri spoke to each other in their own language. When Lucy shuddered again, the Doctor put his arm around her shoulders and tightened his grip. When the woman turned back to them, she nodded and wordlessly, they all headed back to the ship.

Lucy stepped inside the now crowded main room where children sat patiently on platforms and railing and adults stood uncertainly, arms folded and looking about themselves, unconvinced. Lucy turned back to the open doorway which the Doctor was leaning against. "Room for two more." He said toward the ancient couple. And indeed, the man had his arm round the woman's shoulders, standing as she and the Doctor had done. They wouldn't leave one another. Now if only she could convince just one of them, the other was sure to follow. They looked at each other, perhaps weighing the offer.

From behind Lucy, Jireeda edged forward and peeked round the Doctor's leg, looking almost bashfully at the pair before her. "Grandmother? Grandfather? Aren't you coming?" she asked fearfully. Lucy snapped her head back up just in time to see the resolve slip in Jireeda's grandmother's eyes. She ran forward, arms outstretched and enveloped her granddaughter in a soul-crushing embrace. Her eyes were shut tight and her face was screwed up so that she could not look around her. But her tension loosened when she felt her husband's hand upon her back, reassuring her that he would never be far behind. Lucy heard Juliet sigh behind her.

"Well that took long enough." Jack, ruining the moment, bellowed to the crowd.

"Still not helping, Captain." Lucy said. She and the Doctor shared exasperated glances and he motioned for her to wade through children and help him fly the T.A.R.D.I.S.

Barcelona was bursting with activity no small part of which was the arrival of eighteen Centauri. They'd left before the first hints of the end could come; none of them actually wanted to witness that. While they haggled with merchants and Bercelonian real estate agents, the four travelers shared a drink just outside the phone box. They all sat in the sand, Lucy and Juliet casting aside their shoes.

Lucy absolutely loved this place and recalled the only other time she'd been here. It had been just her and the Doctor and their blissful holiday had been interrupted by the T.A.R.D.I.S. leaving of its own accord. That was when they'd been taken aboard the _Intrepid _and Lucy had had her little meeting with the Life Matter. The sunset was just as gorgeous this time as it was before. And she had the added bonus of helping the last of a very old race make a new start on this cozy immigrant planet to improve her mood.

"My god, I almost forgot! Doctor, I have something for you!" she roughly handed Juliet her drink and dashed inside the doors calling, "Wait right there!" over her shoulder. The Doctor on his part looked stunned.

When Lucy came outside with a leather garment bag and bid him to stand, he knew what was coming. He was totally humbled. And when she unzipped it and revealed the dark blue suit with pale grey pinstripes, he was all but flustered. She had actually made him a suit.

"Lucy, what on Earth, I mean, where did you, and why, how, how long did this take?"

"A while, I suppose. It had been some time since I'd made a suit and I fancied a challenge. I changed my mind so many times about everything, the colour's reversed from what I originally planned. But go on then, try it on! It should fit; I stole the measurements from your current wardrobe. Oh, by the way, Doctor, what on Earth were you thinking walking round with a stalk of celery attached to your jacket?"

The Doctor laughed as he took the suit from Lucy. "Well, I was a different person back then." He said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. And with that he headed back into his ship so he could try on Lucy's creation. It fit like a dream, needless to say, and breathed so well with him. Was that cashmere wool? It was, how expensive had that been? He was always vague about money, but he'd gathered enough from Lucy's ramblings about the fashion industry to know that it was not exactly easy to come by. He walked back outside, tugging needlessly at the cuffs and examining them. When he looked up at Lucy, she was beaming and he couldn't help but feel a great deal of warmth blooming in his chest. She stepped up ever so slightly and adjusted his collar, bending a little closer and squinting to check for loose stitches, no doubt. Having found nothing wrong, Lucy looked back up at him.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked.

"You look smashing, if I do say so myself." She batted him on the chest and he gave her a quick hug.

"Thank you, Lucy. You really didn't have to do this."

"Nah, it's nothing, mate. Least I could do, in fact." They smiled at each other and he said to the group that they should get going. They all headed back inside, Juliet smirking for some reason at Lucy. With an approving look from Jack the Doctor made to take the ship up and out in the general direction of anywhere. Before he could, however, the most terrible thing that could ever happen, happened.

The Doctor, Jack, Lucy and Juliet were staring up at the projected image of a Dalek. Behind this Dalek could barely be discerned countless other Daleks. The Doctor stared in open mouthed horror at the screen in front of him.

"Greetings, Doctor!" screeched the robotic voice of his most feared and terrible enemy. Better add, most resilient. They had been seemingly destroyed many times before now and always found a way to come back. They were worse than cockroaches.

The Doctor on his part, said nothing, only waited for whatever fresh nightmare this Dalek was about to unleash.

"It seems we have caught you away from Earth. Allow us to show you all we've accomplished in less than twenty four hours!" The Dalek moved back and now they were looked at rapid images of explosions, people running and screaming, Daleks positively everywhere, screaming their horrid cries of "Exterminate!" A strange hollow sound forced its way out of Juliet's throat while Lucy felt the breath rush out of her. Jack swore loudly and the Doctor remained transfixed at everything the Dalek was showing him. Before it could come back onscreen, the Doctor flew into hyper-fast action. He shut off the projector and let fly the controls, the T.A.R.D.I.S. spinning wildly towards Earth.


	33. Daleks

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The latest explosions had gone off quite close to her head and she'd lost some hearing in her right ear. Bits of a car and some other hunks of twisted metal had gone flying and scraped at the arms and hands she'd flung up trying vainly to shield her face. She'd run so far and so hard that the soles of her boots were wearing off. Now sound was coming in bits and pieces; people's screams were distorted and far away sounding. Only that sound they made when they vapourised you rang clear as a bell.

Lana Hendricks had been in her room when she heard the first of it. The sounds of millions of somethings moving all at once woke her up in the first place. She'd torn out of bed, her feet hitting the cold floor with a shock. Ripping back the drape Lana saw something she'd never expected to see again. She had been only thirteen when the Cybermen and Daleks had invaded Canary Wharf and the rest of the world for that matter. They may look like fake robots with plungers and egg beaters on, but they were the scariest things she had ever come across. Not that she had a lot to compare to. Lana had watched as everywhere people filed out of their houses. Those loud, screeching, metallic voices demanded that everyone come out of their residences. Lana was not about to fall for that trap again. That first time they'd exterminated anyone who didn't comply with their orders. But their orders also involved the willful surrender of their lives. Lana and her family had only escaped because they'd been complacent until the last moment. Their turn was about to fall on them when they'd all been sucked away. Lana wished she had a better explanation that that, but that was simply what happened; the Daleks had been sucked away. That Torchwood company had hushed the whole thing up, but not before some information had leaked out. Those things were called Daleks and for some reason they'd been trying to destroy the Earth for a long time. Something kept stopping them. That was what had Lana worried. What happened when whatever stopped them stopped showing up? She'd taken self defense classes. She studied anything on extra-terrestrial life that came under her nose. Her friends had told her to forget it, and complained that she was losing touch and then stopped trying altogether.

The second time around, the entire Earth had been stolen. They'd all ended up under a terrifying new sky and once again were saved when everything looked so bleak. That had been only a few months ago. Barely a year.

Now Lana was in her last year of school and these dreadful things were back. The Daleks. Not the Cybermen. And no foreign sky above her. But that did nothing to abate her fears. The moment Lana had seen those things she knew she couldn't press her luck. She grabbed her boots from the closet and threw on a sweatshirt. She raced down the hallway to wake her parents. They were already up, teary eyed and staring out the window as she had been. They turned when she entered the room, wide eyed and frantic. Wordlessly, they threw on shoes and jackets while Lana practically shredded the carpet on the stairs to reach her younger sister's room. Victoria was just now thirteen, had only been nine the first time the Daleks showed up. She dragged the girl from her bed, explaining gently but urgently what was going on as she put her shoes on for her and draped a jacket over her shoulders. Victoria got the proper amount of fear in her eyes as she pulled her arms through her sleeves.

Lana's heart had been thumping in her throat the whole time since she'd got up; what she had to do was not easy. She led her family to a safe hidden place she'd mapped out months ago. Once she was sure they were safe inside, she dashed outside and bolted the door of the old bomb shelter. She could hear her family's muffled cries and had to choke down the tears that were trying to force their way out of her. Next she knew she needed to find whoever it was that made the Daleks go away. She had no idea how to actually stop the Daleks; they seemed undefeatable. But Torchwood had let something else slip before they'd gone all hush-hush. There was another alien who made them leave. He was hundreds of years old and he never stayed for long, but always seemed to show up just when the Earth needed him. Lana Hendricks knew she needed the Doctor.

Inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. Lucy, Juliet, Jack and the Doctor had just endured the Daleks' gloating transmission.

"What do we do? Doctor, what do we do?" Lucy already sounded on the verge of tears.

"Lucy, we've seen them before, our cousin's friend Jane was at Canary Wharf, she never made it out. And, and those things, they moved the whole Earth, all those different planets in the sky! They're back Lucy and they're never gonna stop!" Jack rushed over to Juliet and grabbed her by the arms. He peered down into her face and said in a stern voice,

"Don't be ridiculous, Juliet, you know we're going to fix this, we'll find a way!"

Lucy was frantically trying to help the Doctor fly the ship. They needed to get back to Earth and they needed to get back now. Her entire planet and her entire future were at stake here. The Doctor was eerily silent, his jaw clenched and his movements rigid and measured. How? How had they escaped? That clone of himself, the one living on a parallel world with Rose Tyler, had destroyed all of them. That was how his clone came to be on the parallel world in the first place; he'd committed genocide. Why did they always have to come back? Would he never be rid of them? He didn't want to think about the answers to those questions. He looked over at Lucy. She was harried, she was tired, she was tried. He'd put her through so much and she leaped at every chance to help him again and again. He'd do this for her.

When she ship landed, Lucy all but flew to the door. The Doctor had to run after her and stop her from tearing out onto the street. If the Daleks saw her or the T.A.R.D.I.S. they were all as good as dead. She looked at him as though he'd gone insane.

"Lucy, you can't just run out there, they'll kill you, they'll kill all of us. You've never actually dealt with them before, I have. They've no mercy, no emotion, no thoughts but to destroy everything. We need to stay here for a moment and think. We need to find out how they're doing it this time." And how they got back in the first place, he thought darkly.

Lucy was positively shaking with rage and energy. He felt it as well, but internalized it. He just leveled her with a look and she returned to her seated position on the floor. Juliet sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. Jack Harkness looked up at him and waiting for his cue. But the Doctor needed information before he would be able to move on. He couldn't go to the Shadow Proclamation again; that would take too long. The parallel universe was completely closed off so he couldn't go there to enlist help. He wouldn't anyway, the universe had to be damaged enough from all the times they'd hopped through. Maybe that was it. Maybe the Daleks had found cracks in time and come through again. Had Dalek Kahn beaten all the odds again and survived and brought them all back? He was mad enough to do so.

His answers came in the form of another blinking dot indicating another transmission. Dreading his source of knowledge, the Doctor fearfully flipped the switch and the four of them got the surprise of their life. A teenage girl was on the screen. She was standing in the middle of a deserted street. Debris and even more horribly, bodies, littered the area around her. Somewhere in the distance a car alarm sounded. It was dark outside, but no stars could be seen. She was just as shade taller than the twins. The slight breeze picked up her short spiky black hair that fell in pieces around her eyes in some spots and to her chin in others. From what Lucy could tell, her eyes were dark brown and her skin was olive tinted. The combat boots she'd no doubt hurriedly thrown on were unlaced and her sweatshirt was a bit crooked. Her face was smeared and scratched, a wound starting at her forehead and slashing diagonally down her cheek, through her eye was bleeding still, leaking into her eye.

"Doctor?" she called. Lucy looked down at what she was holding. It looked like a projector; she was aiming it directly in front of her. She was breathing raggedly. Had she run a long way?

The Doctor straightened up and, putting on his spectacles, said, "You've got him. But how is that exactly?"

"The whole city's been looted, the Torchwood Estate included. I've been keeping tabs on them for months, mapped out their security system. Didn't need to though; it was completely destroyed. Anyway, they have these things, these projectors. You can plug a frequency in and a set of co-ordinates and reach anyone you like in outer space practically. I've been trying to get you for hours!"

"Who are you?" Juliet asked, still sitting on the floor, still clenching her sister's hand.

"My name is Lana Hendricks. I've come to help you get rid of the Daleks. I was trying to do it on my own cause I didn't know if you'd show up or not. But now that I've got you it'll be easier."

About fifteen minutes later, the four of them were walking onto the deserted street they'd seen Lana standing in. Apparently, the Daleks had already "cleared this sector." Lana stepped out from an awning and came to meet them. She'd wiped her face but it was still smeared with muck and blood. Her brows sat low on her eyes, but Lucy couldn't tell if the scowl was permanent or recently affected.

"How exactly were you planning on defeating the Daleks on your own, Lana?" Lucy inquired if the girl.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't have much of a plan. I stashed my family away so they'd be safe from all this. Then I tried to get hold of you. If that didn't work, I'd vaguely considered going Rambo and try to kill any Dalek I came across. I was going to steal weapons from Torchwood as well." Lana's voice was low and a bit gravelly, like she was a jazz singer from the 30's.

"Well, we're not going to kill them all unless we absolutely have to." Said the Doctor, giving her a reproachful look.

She returned his to him. She bit a cuticle off her thumb before she spoke again though. "Listen, Doctor, don't get me wrong, we all really appreciate your help. None of us would alive without you. But you're not always here. We don't know if you're going to come back all the time. So some people like me have decided to get ready for that time when you don't turn up."

"You sound like Harriet Jones…brave woman." He added.

"Lana we need to know exactly what happened. How did the Daleks get here? Did they say anything at all?"

Lana sighed gustily. "They came in the middle of the night. From the sky. Somewhere over Bristol there's supposed to be a giant spaceship. But thousands of these things came down. They demanded that everyone come outside. It was standard procedure. Come outside or get exterminated. I hid my family in a bomb shelter. They stared killing people even when they listened to them. I think they just want to kill. They just want to destroy. No other agenda." The Doctor gave Lucy a pointed look. He'd told her just how pitiless they were.

"They do have another agenda though. I'm a Time Lord Lana, the information you found about me at Torchwood is correct. The Time Lords and the Daleks have been fighting for a long time. And they always manage to find a way back. I don't know how they did it this time."

A metallic scream from behind them made them all start. "There are so many holes in the universe, Doctor!" The Dalek screeched. All five faces were riveted to the figure, all five backs straight as rods. "It was so easy for us to fall through the cracks in the void and find our way back here! Now you will come with us. You will witness the destruction of Earth!"

The Dalek waited while they all walked in front of it. They walked for almost an hour until they were led to a cannibalized military base. Daleks patrolled the boarders and parted when the five hostages came through. They were led down corridors and through countless rooms. They went down a dark and clanking lift to a sub-basement. This place was deserted. The Dalek leading them was the only one they were aware of. After another hallways full if leaking pipes and blinking lights, they came to a spacious room. Metal chests lined the far wall and three lamps hung in a row from the ceiling. Moisture seeped down the walls and it was positively frigid. But the chill in the air was nothing compared to the one the Doctor felt down his spine. Because that couldn't be Dalek Kahn sitting there in all his glory.

"How?" the Doctor called desperately from several meters away. "Dalek Caan, how did you survive, how is any of this possible?"

Something that might resemble laughter issued from the column of metal that was his nemesis. "Foolish Time Lord. You call yourself wise and yet you have no idea what is going on! How have you stood in our way for so long? We floated in the void for a long time. Dalek Caan had been fading for a long time. He gave his likeness to me and the secret of the Genesis Ark! I am Dalek Tol! "

"But that got sucked into-"

"The void! The Genesis Ark was pulled into the void years ago. It was open when it went in, and it remained open. With Dalek Kahn's knowledge, I was able to make new Daleks! And we floated until we could fall through the cracks and come to Earth! And now it will be ours!"

The Doctor shook his head, he knew it. They had damaged the universe and the ones around it so much so that anything could fall through. And it just so happened that the worst possible thing in the world fell through.

"Now watch, Doctor, as we finish what we started so long ago!" The screen behind this new Dalek turned on and showed more of the first images that had been played to them. People were killed as they ran, fire blazed everywhere and every now and then bits of buildings would fall down.

Lucy watched the screen, her eyes filling with tears. Juliet stood beside her as always, just as frightened and impassioned. Jack looked the picture of rage and his fists were clenched at his sides. Lana, at the back of the group, was shifting from foot to foot, clearly bursting with energy and yearning to do something.

The Doctor, for one, did not know what to do. How could he get them to go back into the void with no hope of return? How could he undo that damage that had already been done? They needed to escape. And he hated to admit it, but they needed Torchwood.

"Alright, Dalek Tol! I accept that you'll hold me here, but let the others go! You have no business with them."

"You would send your friends out there to die? They will not be spared if they are found!"

"Just let them go, Dalek Tol!" When the Dalek did not answer Lana indeed sprung into action. She dashed to the far wall and heaved one of the metal chests into her arms. Before the Daleks could react she had strode forward and hurled it at the Dalek guarding them. He spun away and Lana turned shouting, "Run!" as she dashed down the hall from which they had come. They heard Dalek Tol's screams of "Find them! Find them! Bring them back to me!" The Doctor pulled them into a dark recess where they waited breathlessly as countless daleks filed past. He checked to make sure the coast was clear and they made their way out of the cold building at long last. Now they just needed to pass the gates. Which were still riddled with Daleks. Lana, thinking on her toes again, ducked and walked briskly to a metal box. Opening it as quietly as she could she pushed several buttons in random order. At last, an alarm sounded in the distance and the Dalek guards left to control the imaginary situation.

"How did you know where to find that?" asked Juliet.

"I told you, I've spent years checking on and thouroughly detailing the city's maps and building plans. I know London inside and out and upside down. In fact, that's the way we should be thinking. We're never going to get past every Dalek if we stay on the surface. We need to go through the sewage system. Juliet visibly blanched and swayed a bit. Jack however, was grinning and he said, "Clever, pretty and daring; I like her more and more." Lana rolled her eyes. The American Captain was good-looking sure, but he was anything but discriminatory. She led the way just outside the gates to a waiting storm drain. Fitting her fingers in the cracks, and tearing all her nails on the way, Lana lifted the cover and pushed it aside. She jumped down first, slipping a little on the ladder rungs which were slippery with something she probably didn't want to think about. Looking up, she saw the Doctor above her. She made her way steadily but surely down and watched as first the Doctor connected with the floor, then Jack, the Lucy and lastly, Juliet.

The Doctor was looking round with an ironic grin plastered to his face. "This is the second time I've had to crawl around in a sewer trying to avoid Daleks. I keep repeating myself, Lucy, remind me to try more new things when we get out of this." Lucy only rolled her eyes and offered him a sound that was halfway between a snorted laugh and a choked sob. He put his arm round her shoulders as they walked. Lana looked back at them, smirked and led the way.

"Now it's about 30 kilometers to Torchwood from here. We're gonna go straight for a while and then left I think, then left again and then an immediate right. And then I think we finish it off with a slightly right hand turn." No one said a word. They just let her lead the way.

"What exactly is the plan, Doctor?" Lucy asked very quietly. "How can we get rid of them all without killing them all? Can you open the void again and suck them all back in?"

"I probably could, but they've proved that the void is not safe, they can just fall back through. We're going to have to think of something else." He didn't elaborate though, and that made Lucy worry. Once again, he was left without an answer, but all the times before he'd been able to find one. What hope did they have now? They were being led by a seventeen-year-old girl who was a bit over-enthusiastic about the whole thing. Juliet's resolve was weakening, she knew that. Juliet herself was not weakening and Juliet could never be described as weak. But Lucy knew that in Juliet's heart of heart that she would not be here were it not for her twin. She knew that if Lucy had decided to throw in the towel long ago, Juliet would have been right behind her and would have closed the door on this whole adventure. But the wonderful thing about Juliet was that she was the most loyal person in the world.

"Here we are." Lana announced unceremoniously. They had been walking for ages. Lucy's feet hurt, she was hungry and still quite cold. Lana climbed another ladder and pushed the manhole cover away. Everyone filed out once Lana announced the coast was clear.

The Torchwood Estate must have been an impressive establishment yesterday. Today it was ransacked and partially destroyed. Captain Jack looked distressed. They walked inside, stepping over the remains of the front door. It was dark inside and unsettlingly quiet. This was a building that should constantly be filled with life and energy. Now it was ghost-like.

"Doctor, what should we look for? How will we know when we find it?" Juliet asked. She was looking all about herself, uncertain where to begin.

But the Doctor was nowhere to be found. He had already run off in search of what he needed. They could hear him clanking about in the next room. They followed him and stood aghast in the doorway.

The Doctor was standing, holding his sonic screwdriver in one hand and what looked like a large gun with the mouth of a vacuum cleaner affixed to the end. He was smiling triumphantly.

"Doctor, what on Earth is that?" Lucy asked, fearing in his desperation that he'd actually gone mad.

"This is a Matter Transmographer Unit. I used to have one of these a long time ago, lost it, never knew what happened to it. Anyway, it transfers energy, turns solid objects into dust, gases into liquids, you name it. Anyway it can take a sample of whatever you want it to transform. The Daleks have a unique feature about them, the Dalekanium plating around their shells. All I need is a sample of that and then we can suck every Dalek into the Matter Transmographer Unit and be rid of them."

"What about the Genesis Ark, we have to get rid of that for good, Doctor." Lucy added. He only nodded at her.

"So where are we gonna get a sample of Dalek-whatever?" Lana asked.

"The T.A.R.D.I.S. We need to get back to the T.A.R.D.I.S."


	34. Love

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Ducking along every corner and hugging brick walls was not Lucy's favourite way to travel. Lana Hendricks, their new partner in crime, was leading the way back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. The young girl had swooped into their lives and had made it possible for them to have any kind of strategy whatsoever. She had a lot of anger, a lot she felt she had to prove and the kind of jaded indifference one tells themselves they have when no one else will listen. And perhaps some of her attitude had to do with the fact that she was only seventeen. She still had a lot of living to do, recent hardships aside. But something in Lucy's heart went out to the cunning teenager. Something told her that Lana was capable and only needed a little training to reach her full potential.

They had come to a four way intersection. At moments like these, they had to run one by one, practically flat on the ground to the other side of the street, avoiding light at all costs. This was always the most dangerous part; exposing oneself to openness, to multiple lines of sight. While the Daleks had done a decent job of rounding everyone up, there was still the odd straggler, and the Daleks knew that and they knew that the only way to deal with that circumstance was a good old- fashioned extermination.

Lana raced first across the street, combat boots hitting the pavement louder than was ideal. She reached the other side in no time though, and pressed her back against the wall, feet flat on the ground in case she had to take off running any second, and waved over the next in line after she'd checked all directions. The Doctor followed swiftly after her, not as gracefully, but much more silently. As he ran, stooping so his tall figure would not be seen, something fell out of his jacket pocket. He didn't seem to notice, but if Lucy knew the Doctor, everything he had on his person served a purpose in one way or another. That object was important and he didn't even know he'd lost it yet. It was clear when he crouched down next to Lana, copying her pose, that he wasn't going back for it either. No matter, she thought, she'd just discreetly pick it up on her own way over there.

As soon as Lana gave her a wave, Lucy dashed forward, thankful to dance lessons for teaching her how to be both graceful and silent when called for. As she ran across the road, her right arm extended out slightly and was able to grab the Doctor's lost something by the very tips of her fingers. It wasn't the sonic screwdriver, she could tell as she picked it up. As she sat down, echoing both the Doctor and Lana, she felt the object was small, round and metal. She couldn't examine it now though; it was Juliet's turn to brave open air. Juliet, also benefitting from years of dance training, made it over with no issues at all. The twins smiled gravely at each other as Juliet's back hit the wall behind her. Every neck now craned over to watch Jack Harkness charge toward them, barely having waited for Lana's signal. He was used to being in charge, and certainly didn't mind it when the Doctor took the reins, but something about being ordered around by a teenage girl who barely came up to his collar bone seemed to irk him. He had been quiet about his qualms though, and fully cooperative. Lana stood now, and motioned for the others to follow her.

As they hurried on the next leg of their journey, not far from the T.A.R.D.I.S. now, Lucy had the time to look at whatever it was the Doctor had dropped. It was a fob watch. An antique-looking silver fob watch with all kinds of strange designs on the back. It was badly scratched though, and even looked like it had a burn mark on it. Lucy frowned at the surprisingly heavy disk. It inriguied her and she had no idea why. She'd certainly never seen it before. And how special could it really be, it was a watch? The Doctor had still not even noticed its absence, so maybe it really was of no importance. She pocketed it anyway though, and resolved to bring it to his attention as soon as she had a spare moment. She then had to suppress herself from laughing out loud at the thought of ever having another spare moment again. At long last, with a back aching like it never had before, Lucy and the others were able to rise from their crouched positions. They had reached the T.A.R.D.I.S. As many times as she had thought it, it was truer now than ever before; this truly was the greatest sight in the world. The Doctor had never dropped his sonic screwdriver, or the daft looking Matter Transmographer Unit. He swiftly opened the doors, with Lana standing to the side, acting as guard again.

When all five of them were inside, Lucy felt herself breathe normally for the first time in hours. No matter what was outside, no matter what happened after or before this, she was inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. with the Doctor. She loved him and that was all that mattered. And she would follow him to the end of anything.

He had wasted no time and was clanking about in the bowels of the ship, throwing objects up, seemingly at random. Lucy loved this manic ferocity he got when he was so close to accomplishing something. The Matter Transmographer Unit was now leaning unceremoniously against the control panel. Juliet was panting slightly, leaning her hands on her knees whilst trying to catch her breath. Lucy felt sorry for the millionth time for involving her sister in all this. Jack was leaning, staring at Juliet from across the room. He cared about her more than he let on, Lucy knew. Lana, Lucy realised, was still standing just inside the doorway, looking around herself, utterly bewildered. Lucy remembered that Lana had not been a part of this original group and had never been inside the ship before.

"Welcome to the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lana Hendricks. She's been needing someone like you around." Lana only briefly looked at Lucy before continuing her wide eyed scan of every surface. Once she had assured herself that it wasn't going anywhere, she crossed the metal grating and sat on a chair, feet dangling above the ground.

A loud crash came from the direction of where the Doctor was standing and the other four turned to look at what he was doing. He had thrown some rectangular hunk of metal onto the ground at their feet. The plank was about a foot long and only about five inches wide. What looked like brass semi spheres sprouted up along it, and Lucy recognized the Dalek design. This was Dalekanium.

"So what happens now? You put the Dalekanium into the Matter…thing and it kills all the Daleks?" Juliet asked, having regained her breath.

"No, Juliet, I'm not going to kill them. The Matter Trnasmographer Unit will take everything that makes up the physicality of the Dalek, shell and the being inside and turn it into something else. Then we can send them somewhere far away and we'll be rid of them." That was the idea anyway.

The Doctor didn't know how Torchwood had got hold of an MTU. There were only a handful in all of existence, and one of them had been his. Then again, he'd lost his and this could very well be his reunion with the thing. He glanced over to Lucy, as he was wont to do, and saw that she was holding up a familiar object. Speaking of something lost and then found again. Where had she gotten that? He could feel his eyes go wide and his mouth dropped open. Lucy nodded and without him having to say anything, she spoke.

"You dropped it when we were crossing that last intersection. You didn't seem to notice, but I thought I'd pick it up anyway."

"And it's a very good thing you did, Lucy." He mumbled. He looked over at Jack, who had surely recognized the fob watch which was really a Chameleon Arch. Indeed, Jack's eyes were as wide as the Doctor's and he gave him a look which seemed to say, "Is that what I think it is?" The Doctor gave him a nod as discreet as could be and held out his hand to take it from Lucy.

"I don't understand, Doctor." Said Juliet, looking from him to her twin. "It's just a watch but you're looking at it like it's, I dunno, the secret to the universe or something."

"That's because it's not really a watch, is it Doctor?" Lucy asked, her eyes never leaving his. The Doctor stared into her eyes, dark blue and probing. He nodded as he looked down at the scored surface, tracing the pad of his thumb across it. On the side, just left of the catch, he could barely make out the word engraved on it. He'd noticed it when he'd first found it. For this was not his fob watch Chameleon Arch. It was the Master's. And engraved on the side was the name, "Lucy."

Nearly two years ago, after the Master had been shot and killed, the Doctor built him a funeral pyre and burned him on it ceremoniously. He may have been destroying and enslaving the human race, but he was all that was left of the Doctor's own race and he deserved a proper resting place. The Doctor had noticed something at the base of the pyre, something about to catch flame in the glowing embers. He reached down to save it from the fire and saw that it was a fob watch. The Master had used it to turn back into himself from his human form of the Professor. Something told the Doctor then to keep the watch. He had thought at that time that it was sentimentality, but later events made him think it was something akin to fate.

The Doctor had had many occasions to examine the watch, find out nearly everything about it. The Master had done something to it after changing himself into a Time Lord again. For one thing, he'd engraved the name Lucy on it. But something about the inside of the watch, something deep within its core was wrong. Months later, the Doctor realised it wasn't wrong, wasn't broken; it was changed. The Master had somehow managed to alter the way the Chameleon Arch worked. He'd reversed the settings. It could now permanently change a human into a Time Lord. But why would he want to do that? His life as a human had been miserable, but it had been temporary and the watch returned him to his natural state. Now, he could make a human's natural state that of a Time Lords. And then the Doctor realised the purpose: Lucy. The Master's wife Lucy, the one who had shot him. He was going to make her a Time Lord! How strange then, when the Doctor met his new companion, his own Lucy. This had the Doctor wondering… did the name mean only that the Master intended to change his wife into a Time Lord and then present her with the thing that did it, as a present? Or would this Chameleon Arch only work for the Master's Lucy? Was there really so much power in a name? While the Master was never one for displays of genuine affection, the Doctor thought that the engraving was merely symbolic. And he'd kept the fob watch in his pocket since that day, as well as his own.

"Thank you for returning this, Lucy. Now!" he said, much brighter than he had been before. "Let's go Transmography some Daleks! Transmograficate Daleks. Transmograform Daleks. Oh, who cares, let's go get some Daleks!"

Lana Hendricks was leading the way again, back to the army base where the Daleks were positioned. They had to repeat their stealthy process of duck and cover every time they came to an intersection. It was easier going this time; they knew the way better. But it would be light soon and that would expose them if they didn't reach the base quickly.

Once they reached the first gate, Lana hopped it and checked for patrolling Daleks. None. They all followed her into the first corridor where Lana again performed her sweep. Nothing. Now Lucy was getting worried. They should have run into something by now. The Daleks weren't exactly thick; they always had a plan, always had an endgame. There absence could only be explained by the initiation of something even more sinister. She knew at any moment, some transmission would come through, they'd all get sucked into a black hole, the Earth would simply implode, something.

She was shaking when they got to the corridor that would lead them into that big room with Dalek Tol. They still had not run into a single person, Dalek or human. Lucy could sense the agitation in Juliet, and indeed in all the others. They knew this was bad as well.

"What are we going to do, Doctor?" Lana asked. "This can't be good. Everything all of us knows about them points to them being up to something. They're not gone, they don't give up, but we haven't had any trouble from them since we left this building in the first place. I don't like it."

The Doctor was shaking his head too. "What else can we do? We've got to go in there, we'll figure something out."

"You mean you're just going to make this up as you go along?" Lana hissed furiously.

"Do you have a better idea?" When Lana said nothing, Jack took action and kicked the door open, blasting it several meters into the dank room. Lucy and Juliet gave him half exasperated, half frightened looks as he charged in, gun drawn. The Doctor followed, holding the sonic screwdriver aloft, the MTU dangling from his other hand. Lana rushed in next, rolling on the floor and whipping around to face in all directions. Lucy and Juliet hurried in, determined not to show fear. Lucy had handled a lot, that if nothing else, would prepare her for this.

All this happened in a manner of seconds and they were all quite surprised when Daleks started coming out of the woodwork. They had been ambushed. Lucy had no idea how they all fit in this one room, she had never seen so many up close.

"You have proved yourself a fool once again, Doctor! Did you not think it strange that you met no opposition from us? You walked right into our trap! And with you out of the way, we can finally exterminate Earth!" Dalek Tol finished to a cacophonous chorus of "Exterminate!" from every Dalek in the room. Juliet threw her hands over her ears and Lana was grimacing tightly. Lucy could tell Jack was just bursting to try and shoot every one of them. For herself, she wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or throw up or laugh. So many things had happened to her, good and bad, and she refused to let it end here. The Doctor was silent so far, but she could see his hand twitch around the MTU. What was he waiting for? They had a large number of the Daleks here; he could just whip it out now and blast them all. And if she was right about how the MTU worked, once it got hold of more of the Dalekanium it already had a sample of, it would keep searching until it had found every last bit and changed it into whatever the Doctor set it for. So why was he still just standing there?

"Dalek Tol, you didn't fight in the Time War with me and the rest of the Cult of Scarro. You haven't seen the things we've seen. But you know what it is to lose everything; you're made up of the remnants of them. Don't make me destroy you. Turn back now and rebuild your civilization far from Earth, far from anything else and never leave. How many times do we have to do this dance before you realise that I will never let you take the Earth? The Daleks have survived longer than they should; they've risen above nearly everything. But not me. You won't win against me, so take your chance now and go. If every last one of you leaves now and never returns, I promise you'll hear no more from me. And we can all just go on existing in separate corners of the universe."

Ah. Mercy. Mercy explained his hesitance, redemption stayed his hand. Lucy felt the breath catch in her chest and she had to swallow a lump in her throat. After everything, the Doctor still had mercy left in him, always would. He didn't want to destroy them and was giving them an out. She should have known better than to be hopeful that they would take it.

"I am all of the Cult of Scarro, every Dalek in one Dalek. I am Dalek Tol and you will never defeat me, Doctor! You can never destroy me! We will exterminate you!"

And before a single Dalek could fire on them, the Doctor whirled the MTU around and aimed it at Dalek Tol. He flipped a large silvery blue switch and the engine, or whatever made it run revved to life, roaring, sucking in everything around it. Had the Daleks emotions, they would be standing in awe of the bizarre machine. Instead they sat as cold metal statues, powerless against the forces about to act on them.

Reality seemed suspended. It was silent, but the silence was deafening. A frequency both too low and too high to hear played in Lucy's ears and she thought she might lose her footing. In slow motion almost, one by one, the Daleks got sucked into the MTU. The seemed not to shrink, but to evaporate into the unit, a fine and cloying mist that polluted the air even though it was beautiful. Gold and silver and white flakes of dust, once Daleks, flowed into the MTU, leaving the air around her smelling of iron and rust. It was windy, though she couldn't think why in this basement of a room. Her hair flew above her, her clothes whipped about her and she staggered when she shifted her weight. All other objects in the room seemed to shudder and vibrate, threatening to come loose from their positions and crash at will into the travelers. Her hands were held up in front of her, shielding against an unseen enemy.

Jack was shouting above all the chaos, and Lucy had no idea how she ever managed to hear him.

"Lucy! Juliet! We need to get rid of the Genesis Ark! As long as it still exists, the Daleks will find a way to come back, I know they will. Help me; I'm going to rig it with explosives!" Lucy tugged violently on Juliet, who had never seemed more solid an object in her life. She eventually bent to her sister's will however and they made their way over to Jack. The Doctor was still focused on pulling all the Daleks into the MTU. Some were crashing in through the open hallway; all the Daleks in the world that hadn't been able to fit here in the cellar. Lana was staring around herself, unsure what to do.

Jack pulled several metal discs and some wires from his coat pocket. He would insert one end of a wire into a small hole on the top if the disc and the other end of the wire into another disc. Pushing aside the first wire with another, he managed to fit two ends into each disc, connecting them; eight in all. He showed the twins where to put them on the Genesis Ark. They had to circle the whole thing, without breaking a single connection. Lucy was about to wonder aloud why Jack needed their help; he could have done it alone. But then she saw the reason; he was forcing Lana bodily out of the room. Ms. Hendricks was not going quietly either. They had to fight their way through speeding Daleks, but Lana's kicking, screaming and thrashing was making it very difficult for Jack to manoeuvre. At long last though, he managed to shove her out and drag her into another room, down the hallway, away from them and from the Daleks. He slammed the door, ignoring her shouting and pounding. He staggered back into the room, batted and tossed about by the last of the Daleks hurtling toward the MTU.

Lucy and Juliet had finished rigging the Genesis Ark and were waiting for his further instruction; demolitions were not either of their fortes.

The Doctor was buckling under the weight of the MTU. It hadn't gotten a whole lot heavier, but holding it up long enough to suck in every Dalek in existence was taking its toll on him. After what seemed an eternity, Dalek Tol was the only one left, the leader symbolically left for last to turn to dust. As the metal shell disappeared inside, the Doctor flipped the switch back and set the MTU on the floor, exhausted. He glanced over and saw that Jack had already rigged the Genesis Ark as planned. Lana was nowhere to be seen, which he took to mean that Jack had successfully stashed her away. All that was left to do was get everyone out and watch it blow. Not his usual style, but if it meant never having to deal with the Daleks again…

"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" He yelled, dashing out the door, dragging the MTU with him. Jack was already pressing buttons. When he ran out, Lucy and Juliet were right behind him.

Lucy was almost out the door when Juliet turned back into the room.

"Juliet, what in bloody hell are you doing, we have to go! Now!" Lucy screamed. An ominous beeping emitted from the Genesis Ark and Lucy knew there was very little time left. But Juliet was going back in. Why?

"Juliet!" she yelled again, this time running in after her. She grabbed her twin's wrist, but she wouldn't budge from her path.

"Lucy, I dropped my mobile, that's it!"

"Okay, well you've got it, let's go!"

As they started back for the door though, Lucy knew it was too late. She felt a deep rumble under her feet and an almost electric charge in her heart. Jack had rushed forward, trying to grab for them. And now everything really was in slow motion, in Lucy's perspective. The Doctor was yelling her name, holding out his hand, and she was reaching for it, or trying to. She could tell she was running but she couldn't remember the last time her foot had connected with the ground. She felt intense heat behind her and again that rushing deafness as the Genesis Ark exploded.

The only thing that was clear was her sister. Their hands were clasped together tightly; so tight they were the same person now. Lucy felt her heart accelerate to ten times its normal speed and her brain slowed down to almost a crawl, so that she was only able to know one thing, to say one thing. Lucy's eyes locked on Juliet's, deep blue echoed in deep blue. The identical faces smiled at each other, pictures of bliss in the midst of entropy. And simultaneously, they said, "I love you."

Lucy knew it would never be goodbye, not with Juliet. And that's all that mattered as everything turned to black, as she forgot she had ever felt anything, as time and space ceased to exist. The only thing that echoed in her failing consciousness was that one phrase, the sum of all her deeds on this Earth. "I love you."

The Doctor watched in horror as three of the people he was closest to got blasted by the explosion of the Genesis Ark. He had made it almost to the end of the hallway, near the door where Lana Hendricks was still viciously pounding to be let out. Jack got a good bit of heat and was knocked off his feet from the force. And from the way that his head hit the wall behind him, the Doctor knew that he was dead. He also knew that in a matter of minutes though, Jack would get back up, in pain, but as alive as he'd ever been. It was Lucy and Juliet he was worried about. They were human and mortal. And they had been caught by the same explosion. When they crashed to the floor, he knew nothing good would happen next. He rushed forward, knowing instinctively which twin was Lucy and which was Juliet. He cradled Lucy's head in his lap, tears already brimming in his eyes. There was no way Lucy Blake could be dead. He refused to let it happen. And he'd save her sister too. And better yet, he knew how. Perhaps it really was fate that he had dropped the Chameleon Arch and that Lucy had picked it up. This fob watch had her name engraved on it; it was for a different Lucy, but enough of everything he'd experienced with her told him that this was still not a coincidence.

She could survive. How many people had told her she could survive? Her purpose was written across the stars, it transcended time. And he knew that he'd been right all along. That nagging sensation at the back of his head, that sinking feeling he knew what was coming, he'd been right. He was the one destined to ensure that she would survive. He was to make her a Time Lord.

And despite everyone saying that Juliet did not possess the same quality as her sister, he would save her anyway. Neither of them would die.

Jack had by now come back to life and was running to the Doctor, anguish in his eyes. He stroked Juliet's cheek, a softer gesture than was commonplace for the American soldier. "Help me get them back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. I know how to save them." Without question, Jack picked up Juliet, the Doctor carrying Lucy behind the Captain. Jack yelled for Lana to stand back and kicked the door in. Lana burst out, face full of rage, ready to yell at all of them for shutting her out of the most important part. But she crumpled when she saw the fallen twins and she fell into place silently behind the Doctor.

When they exited the building, Lana pushed gently in front and led the way back to the ship. There was no fear this time, no danger. But people were emerging from hiding places, breaking out of whatever jails they'd been held in. And they were looking curiously at this band of strangers. None of that mattered to the Doctor though. He just needed to get them back. Because he still had hope. Because for a Time Lord to regenerate, he could not already be dead. And ever so faintly, he could feel Lucy's pulse against him.


	35. End

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The Doctor opened the doors of the T.A.R.D.I.S., mind racing and hearts beating out of sync. He was residually aware of Lana Hendricks sitting down morosely at a chair, eyes never leaving the half dead twins.

With no time to waste, the Doctor laid Lucy down on the floor and Jack did the same with Juliet. Captain Jack stood aside and looked down at the distraught Time Lord. An understanding passed between them and Jack crossed the room to stand beside Lana. He put his arm around her shoulders and she did not shrug him off; she only watched, barely daring to breathe.

The Doctor's own breath was ragged and unsteady. His hands shook as he pulled the Chameleon Arch fob watch from his pocket. In mere seconds, his mind was able to think of all the possibilities. He would no longer be alone. But he'd be condemning Lucy and Juliet to the harried and often sorrowful lives of a Time Lord. They would share in his pain and carry the same responsibilities on their shoulders. They would be looked to for guidance and cast out as scapegoats. But he knew that that was better than living in a world where Lucy didn't exist.

The clasp snapped open with a soft click and gold and orange and white light streamed out of the watch. It hung about in the air for a moment as though sentient, as though deciding what to do and where to go. It finally gravitated towards the ashen faced twins, bathing them in its light.

The Doctor watched, his face pulled into a mask of breathless agitation. His hearts were beating so fast that at any minute they would overheat and expire. With one tear falling from his eye, he saw the golden light pass into Lucy, breathed in by her.

Across the room Jack's hand twitched on Lana's shoulder and he made a sudden movement, as if to run to them. But he remained where he was, mouth agape. Lana herself was in a profound state of shock. Her chest did not rise or fall with breath and Jack Harkness would have thought she'd gone catatonic were it not for the pulse he could feel against his arm.

And for the Doctor, he could see nothing except the woman below him. She was breathing steadily now and her entire body glowed with the life-giving force. But he was bracing himself for what would happen next, because this process was not over. Being transformed by the Chameleon Arch hurt. He'd had to use it when he was being pursued by the Family of Blood with Martha. The Chameleon Arch rewrote every cell in one's body. Generally speaking, people were supposed to stay within their original genetic mapping; that was just how the universe worked. So were someone to come around and change said genetic mapping, the transformation would come at a cost. And sure enough, Lucy's blue eyes flew open and turned white as she screamed. Her spine arched in crippling, paralysing pain. This was torture for the Doctor to watch. How could he have done this to her? At long last, Lucy's screams ceased and she fell back to the floor. Her breath came in jagged gasps and she rolled onto her side, eyes wide but blue once more. The Doctor was amazed to see that she still looked like herself. But perhaps since this was not a true regeneration, only a biology rewrite, she was allowed to hold on to her old form.

Her left hand reached out and the Doctor caught it. He felt a spasm when their hands touched. The feeling was like stumbling across a photo of a dead friend or family member; painful and beautiful all at once. He pulled Lucy to a sitting position, so that she was level with him and he watched her focus turn inward. She had withdrawn her hand from his and put it now to her chest. She moved to the right and her eyes widened once more. He almost smiled at her discovery of her second heart. It really had worked. Lucy was a Time Lord.

Lucy Tanith Blake had ceased to be when the bomb went off back at the military base inhabited by Daleks. She vaguely remembered a jolting and brisk run and being placed on a cold metal surface, but these were the memories of one half dead, of a person not real. And in these dark and confusing half realizations, she had felt something becoming part of her. It was warm and it was welcome, but then things changed so quickly and Lucy didn't have the breath to catch up.

There was a fire in her brain and it was spreading down her spinal cord; she could feel it lifting off the floor. Her heart had turned to ice and was being compressed and shoved aside and something was growing rapidly next to it. Someone was kicking apart her rib cage and she heard the most piercing scream in her now hyper sensitive ears. Was that her voice? When her blood had stopped boiling and her pulse returned to an acceptable rate, she opened her eyes. Well, she still felt like Lucy Blake. For the most part anyway.

When her hand had clasped the Doctor's, she knew instantly what had happened. Her new mind was able to piece it together so much more quickly. And that was when she reached over and sought out her two heartbeats. The wish had played at the back of her dreams, but this was no dream, this was reality. The Doctor had actually made her a Time Lord.

Her thoughts turned to something more pressing however and she whipped around and looked down at her other side where her twin sister was still lying, unmoving on the floor. Something was wrong. Something was horribly, terrifyingly wrong.

"Doctor, you were supposed to change her too! Didn't you-" she snapped around to face him and their eyes met. He nodded his head and held up the Chameleon Arch for her to see. She seized the watch and opened it over Juliet's face. Nothing happened. No life giving dust popped out and passed into her, saving her, however painfully. Lucy had no way of knowing that the dust which had previously been hovering over her had only disappeared into the air around them. That had been the reason for Jack's anguished movements; he'd seen that only one of the twins would be granted this second chance.

Lucy shook her head and stared down at her sister. She looked peaceful, yes, like she was sleeping, but this was so wrong. She remembered when her own mother died, when they'd said goodbye to her at the hospital. Lucy had been devastated of course, but there was also a sense of closure present. She didn't get that this time. This was like looking down at her own dead self, identical twin aside. It would be an understatement to say that something inside Lucy died as well. This was like the extra heart she'd grown was being sucked right back out of her. Lucy extended a trembling hand and touched Juliet's face. Cold. Absolute stone. Lucy's blood thickened and slowed to a snail's pace in her veins. Her body felt weightless, like it was about to float away from the ground at any moment, no longer subject to gravity's rule. It must have been her head that kept her anchored to the ground, because it was so heavy and it was caught in a vice grip. This couldn't be happening. She refused to let it happen. If she was a Time Lord now then she would find a way to stop it. But she knew that it was no use. The dead could not come back, simple as that. But the stabbing ache she felt in her heart was too much to bear.

"No. No, no, no, no, no." her voice was hollow and it hung poignantly in the air, covering everything and everyone in choking, suppressing silence. Lucy put her hand to her sister's heart and could not feel a thing. No thready pulse was there to give her last minute hope. No flutter of breath graced her lips and Lucy knew she was too late.

She stood, sobs wracking her body and causing her to stumble. The Doctor stood as well and held her by her upper arms. She threw him off though and continued to back away. "No, don't." she choked to him, barely intelligible through her grief. He moved to her again and tried to encircle her once more, but she whirled away from him.

"NO! AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed louder than ever before, slamming her fists once against the walls of the T.A.R.D.I.S. As her strangled cry dwindled away, she sank once again to the floor; arms loose at her sides, hands on her folded legs, head hanging down as she sobbed into her chest. Never before had she broken down like this in front of anyone, but damned be dignity and damned be grace. Her sister was dead and there was nothing anyone could do to bring her back.

The Doctor ran over to Lucy who was screaming her anguish to the floor. He waved at Jack to take Lana into another room so he could be alone with the new Time Lord. When the two humans were gone, the Doctor gingerly snaked his arms around Lucy, pulling her close to him. She made no attempt to cast him aside this time and instead sank against him, the better to cry endlessly.

Juliet was gone. She was really gone. The girl she had shared everything with from birth was gone. Together they had struggled through ballet classes and braved their father's fists. They had helped their mother when she was too frightened, they had explained away their past to classmates who wouldn't understand. They had worked hard for everything they had and ventured bravely into the real world, Lucy to become a designer and Juliet to…to conquer the world.

"She was going to do everything, Doctor. She was going to see every single country and then come back here and teach people about them. She was going to settle down and pass her knowledge to her kids. Doctor, she would have made a great mum, the best there ever was. Just bring her back, bring her back and give her that chance."

"I'm so sorry, Lucy, I'm so sorry." He said, rocking back and forth with her and stroking her hair. He wished that if he held her tight enough, he could just make all the pain go away.

"Don't be sorry, just bring her back! She can't be gone, Doctor, she just can't! 'Cause I don't know what I'll do without her, she's everything, and, and…and she can't be… she just can't!"

"I wish I could, Lucy, I'd bring her back in a second. But you know I can't."

"Then what good are you?" she shouted, breaking away from him and staggering to her feet. The Doctor rose as well, slowly, as though sudden movements would provoke her. "No, really, I mean, you can stop wars and genocides and change people's mind and think of all these clever things, but what good are you really, if you can't even bring one more human back to life? You changed me; find a way to change her! I…I'm sorry." Lucy's head tilted back to look up at the ceiling, her hands relaxed and her body released itself from its tensed posture. "I know that nobody can bring her back and, and that anger isn't going to get me anywhere, but-"

"But she's your sister, your twin sister and that counts for a lot. You've been through so much together, sacrificed for each other and that's no small thing. I've been through this though, Lucy. I've lost everyone, and I'm not trying to put you in perspective or anything, I'm just saying I get it."

Lucy looked back over at the Doctor and leveled him with a stare. He'd never seen so much pain in those eyes at once. She looked older than she'd ever done. "And will it hurt like this all the time?" she asked baldly. The tears still coursed down her face, but she was coherent and she was calm.

The Doctor looked at her, unblinking, and said, "Yes. In a way. It won't always be this intense, but that hurt never goes away, no. And to top it all off, you're feeling everything the way a Time Lord feels now. But I promise you, it does get better."

Lucy shuddered and more tears fell from her eyes. "I don't think I can be the same person anymore, Doctor. I mean, I know I'm not, I know I've changed, but, but what do I do without her?" Lucy couldn't go on speaking any longer. There were no words. Words wouldn't fill this shell of a person she'd become. Words wouldn't sew up the wounds that had opened when she'd screamed her brains out. Words would not bring her sister back to life or change anything that had happened. Words just left her feeling more broken and confused than the ringing silence that followed them. But so many things were racing through her head and she could not let them alone.

"This is what everyone meant, wasn't it, Doctor? When they all said I could survive, that I was built for it, that I was destined to overcome everything, this was what they meant. And they were all so sure that Juliet couldn't do the same. How did they know? And why is that allowed to happen? We're identical, right? So why can I survive and she can't? What kind of sick rule is that?"

"I don't know, Lucy and I'm so sorry. I wish I had more answers for you."

"Did you know? Did you have even the faintest idea that something like this would happen?" she gestured around herself, looking lost and desperate.

The Doctor found this hard to say. He couldn't lie to her, but the truth would sound like a betrayal.

"Yes. I knew. It started when we were in the Black Forest, do you remember? You told me about a dream you had because of the Somnium Parasites, about when we went to the future with Coryn lu Reaux, and you saw the choice I had to make with you two. Well when you told me about the glowing light and how I looked at you like I'd done something wrong, it, it just popped into my head. And then, everything that happened after that, it just sort of…solidified it, made it clearer. And I'm sorry if I ever lied to you and told you I didn't know. I didn't want to be wrong and worry you. And…"

"And?" Lucy prompted, lost as ever.

"And I didn't exactly want to be right." He admitted.

Lucy nodded slowly, looking down at the floor. "Right. You, you didn't want me to be a Time Lord with you."

"No, Lucy, no, that's not it at all. All I've ever wanted for so long was someone else like me, was one more Time Lord. I didn't want you to have to live with the burden of being a Time Lord, and now that's what I've gone and done. And don't get me wrong again, I so prefer this, but…"

"But what? Now you have another Time Lord and I'm alive. I'm not so far gone in grief as to not be able to appreciate that." The Doctor looked up at Lucy and smiled. Perhaps it wasn't the best time, but he couldn't help smiling around her. This was his Lucy, only now she'd last a little longer.

He held out his arms and she walked into them. She could feel another piece of her break off when she hugged him, but that was just the reaction to contact in her state. She could have stayed there forever in his embrace, but she knew there was plenty to do. She squeezed him tightly once and kissed him quickly on the cheek. He gave her a queer look, complete with eyebrow raised and she smiled sadly.

"Doctor, there's so much more that needs saying, but for now we have to get rid of the Daleks for good, take Lana back home and, and bury Juliet. Next to mum. That's what she'd want." Lucy choked up again on the last word and the Doctor rushed to her to dry her tears with the pads of his thumbs. Again that heartbreaking smile and then the Doctor nodded slowly and left to get Captain Jack and Lana Hendricks from whatever room they'd stashed themselves in.

In a grey church yard on top of a windy hill in Devonshire, England, Lucy and Juliet's mother had been laid to rest. Lucy had called the funeral home ahead of time and told them the news and they'd prepared the tombstone and gravesite that the family had bought years before. Lucy had thought it was morbid at the time, but now she was grateful that everything had been prearranged. Juliet would lay right next to their mother and there would be no hassle.

It was on this windy church yard that the Doctor, Captain Jack Harkness, Lana Hendricks and Juliet's twin sister now stood. The former three stood back so that Lucy could be alone. At the bottom of the hill, a lone bagpiper played a haunting dirge. Lucy and Juliet had been friends with the boy in primary school and he wept freely as he played his song. Lucy herself had forgone tears and was stoic in front of her sister's grave. It was simple and made of polished black marble like their mother's. Lucy stared at the words on the stone, and while nice, did not think them sufficient to summarize her sister's life.

Juliet Patricia Blake

Beloved daughter and sister

Born 5th June, 1987

Died 3rd June, 2010

"Vita brevis, ars longa"

Lucy smiled softly at the Latin phrase at the very bottom. Put simply, it meant, "Life is short, art is forever." That helped to explain her sister more than anything else could. It was this phrase that would keep Lucy from spiraling into depression again. It wasn't until she'd seen the headstone either, that Lucy was able to put the last few months into perspective. She'd started traveling with the Doctor a few days before Christmas. It was now only two days before her twenty-third birthday. She'd never before celebrated a birthday alone. She didn't believe she could.

"Well, Juliet, I've never been one for talking to people who can't hear you, but…but I can't help myself this time. I just…just want to thank you. For everything. My whole life, you've been there for me and I hope you know that I loved you more than anything else in the world. Still do. And, and thank you for coming along with me and the Doctor. I thought for a moment that if you hadn't that you'd still be alive, but, but I know that…that this is…maybe not the way it's supposed to happen, but it's...anyway I know you're okay. Because I know you loved me and…and I'm really gonna miss you, twin!" And now Lucy did cry again, did let her sorrow escape and fall upon the ground, the tears dissolving as fast as they'd appeared.

"I just, I still can't believe that you won't ever phone me again, or that you'll never leave the front door unlocked again. And you'll never…you'll never do so many things. And I'm so sorry. But, but I know you'd want me to be happy and keep traveling with the Doctor. I love you so much, Juliet. I love you." And Lucy kissed her hand and blew it toward the fresh grave. She turned around to the rest of the group and they ran to her and held each other while the bagpiper finished his song. When they left the graveyard, the Doctor clasped Lucy's hand and did not let it go.

Back inside her home, the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy shoved aside her pain and brought her mind around the next task at hand. The Daleks were still contained in some new form inside the Matter Transmographer Unit.

It couldn't be stored somewhere, somehow that would go wrong. So Lucy thought for a moment and said. "We'll scatter them, like ashes. Then they'll be separated but in a way, they'll get what they wanted. They'll go everywhere and be a part of everything. Since they don't have a true form now, we can just let them go. We don't have to actually kill them, but this way-"

"We can be rid of them for good and simultaneously give them a civilized send off." Finished the Doctor. So they flew the T.A.R.D.I.S., the Doctor and Lucy, with Jack and Lana watching. And then the Doctor opened the doors and they saw that they were coasting along time and space. The Doctor handed the MTU to Lucy and she crossed to the threshold of the peculiar ship. She looked out at the universe around her and smiled. Stars were blinking at her and galaxies swirled and it was wonderful. She pressed a button on the MTU and a cylinder slid out into her hand. She set the rest of the MTU down and opened the catch on the container.

Out poured every Dalek in existence in the form of black and grey sparkling dust. Lucy couldn't help but realise that dust seemed to follow her wherever she went, along with the prophecies and veiled hints. The Life Matter, the Heart of the T.A.R.D.I.S., the Chameleon Arch, the Daleks and so many other things had come to her in the form of dust. Somewhere in the back of her mind echoed, "We are all dust and to dust we shall return." She smiled once more and when she was sure that there was nothing left in the container she looked back at the space behind her, dust traveling as far as the eye could see. She stepped back and closed the doors, sliding the cylinder home into the MTU.

"Alright, mates, next order of business. We have to take Miss Hendricks home." Lana looked angry for a moment, but knew that she would need to pull her family from the shelter, and felt guilty for leaving them there for so long. Jack cuffed her affectionately on the back and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him as the two Time Lords flew the bizarre ship to her home in London.

Back on the street of what was once her home, Lucy felt more out of place than she ever had in her life. People were walking about, talking to each other, helping each other out of collapsed houses, strewn rubble and makeshift shelters. Lucy was no longer a part of these people. She had made herself so scarce over the last few months that no one recognised her and almost no one would notice her continued absence. More likely than not, people she'd once known would think that she had died like her sister and would eventually stop thinking about her. Maybe she'd one day become legend like the Doctor. The planet was sure to need saving every now and again and she would never leave his side. It was not recognition she craved however, it was connection. After so many traumas and so much life lived in so short a time, Lucy needed someone else to latch onto. And she had a pretty good idea who that someone would end up being.

Lana Hendricks was leading the way once again around the hectic streets. She cut through alleys and gardens and ignored everyone except for the three people behind her. And she was barely aware of them, since panicked thoughts of her family had overtaken her brain. They'd be worried and they'd be furious, but most importantly, they'd be safe. At last, they came to the bomb shelter not far from her home where she had locked them the day before. She pulled off every obstruction and heaved open the heavy doors with the help of the American Captain. Her family emerged, looking shaken and confused. Jack's face ended up being the first they saw and they all started stammering at once, asking him a million questions. Lana quietly stood behind them and then tapped her younger sister on the shoulder. Victoria turned around sharply and squealed with joy, throwing her arms around her sister's neck.

Lucy could not help but feel twin stabs of pain in her hearts. She wanted that back more than she cared to think about right now, because she could not risk breaking down again. She had to keep it together. Thankfully, she had the Doctor's strong hand held fast in her own and she would not let go.

Lana introduced the travelers to her family and in turn the Hendricks' invited the three of them back to dinner. Lucy and the Doctor looked at each other. He raised his eyebrows but she ever so discreetly shook her head. She couldn't handle that right now. Whatever fragile grip she had on her psyche was waning as the day was and she longed to get back to the T.A.R.D.I.S. Jack declined as well, and Lucy knew that he would need to get back to his team at Torchwood. Lana stepped forward from her family and embraced each member of the group. When she came to Lucy, the Time Lord whispered in the girl's ear, "Never hesitate to call us. If you need anything, just use this." And when she pulled away she slipped Juliet's mobile into Lana's open palm. Lana knew exactly what it was and her eyes brimmed as she looked back up at Lucy. Lucy only nodded and swallowed her own tears. They watched as Lana and her family headed back in the direction of their house. When they could no longer see them, the Doctor turned to Jack.

"Well then, Captain, I think it's about time we got you back to Torchwood."

"I reckon you're right, Doctor. Thanks again for everything." The American shook the Doctor's hand and afterwards offered him a salute, which he knew irked him.

Lucy smiled when Jack turned to her and took her hand so that he could kiss it. But her smile faltered when he said, "I'm…unbelievably sorry, Lucy, for your loss. I, I think you know how much I cared about Juliet." Jack was starting to get choked up and when he made as if to speak again, Lucy put a finger to his lips.

"It's okay, Jack. I know. And so did she." This seemed to satisfy him and he set off down the street after refusing a ride in the T.A.R.D.I.S. Lucy thought he might want the chance to be alone with his thoughts.

"Well, Lucy, it's all done now. We've taken care of everything haven't we?"

"For now, I suppose. I'm sure something will come along in the next five minutes."

The Doctor grinned at her and took her hand. Together they walked back to the ship in silence.

"So tell me, Lucy. How does it feel to be a new Time Lord?"

Lucy looked up at the Doctor and drank in his stare for a moment. She could drown in it, but he was expecting an answer.

"You know, it's strange. I feel so odd in this, not this body, because it's the same body, or nearly. But I feel different. I haven't really changed all that much, but still it's like I know something's gone. Or is it that something's been added? 'Cause now that I'm a Time Lord, I feel like that's all I've ever been, only I still feel like I only started existing a couple hours ago. I never really felt human, you know? So, once I get used to this, I guess it will just feel…right."

The Doctor smiled knowingly and said, "Well that's brilliant. And so are you, Lucy. You've been so brilliant, and now you're going to be so much more brilliant, there'll be no living with you." Lucy laughed and shoved him playfully into the control panel. The laugh still sounded strange to her, whether because of her sister's passing, or because if her new species, she didn't know. It wasn't altogether unpleasant. It was in fact, quite healing. She laughed again at the thought and the Doctor laughed with her.

"Thank you, Doctor. Thanks for….for everything. I don't know what I'd have done without you. I mean, you've changed my life in so many ways, I, I can't even explain it."

The Doctor looked at her quite soberly now and though there was mirth in the way the corners of his mouth slid slightly up, his gaze was intense.

"Lucy, I can't even begin to explain…I…you've made me, well, better. I was so angry and so lost after Rose left, and Martha and Donna, I feel like…well, like they prepared me to meet you. I know you don't care much for destiny-"

"And neither do you, Doctor." She added pointedly.

"And neither do I. But, there's something I should say, because I haven't said it in a long time and I learned the hard way that you only get so many chances to say it. Lucy Blake, I love you. I love you more than the sun and space and time. I love you." He stood, quite still, looking as dashing as he'd ever done in the suit she'd made him. His eyes, so brown, stared into hers and were so assured. He was not begging, not demanding, not apologetic, he was just there. And he loved her.

Lucy took a step closer to him and she saw him take in an unsteady breath. "Doctor, you are without doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I love you for it. And I'll always love you for it. I'll always love you no matter what."

He grinned and laughed at the same time and Lucy in turn clenched her jaw shut. But when he stepped toward her, closing the gap between them, she relaxed. His left hand found the small of her back and his right caressed her jawbone. As a shiver went down her spine, Lucy's hands rose and one rested on the back of his neck, the other ran through his hair. When he pulled her in to kiss her, Lucy felt that the world could stop turning for all she cared. They'd kissed once before, but this was so different. While that had been nervous and rushed, this was slow, patient and so passionate. Lucy felt dizzy as his tongue caressed hers and she couldn't help but bite his lip a little. Their kiss was long and deep and brought such relief to both of them. Lucy had come such a long way from the tired designer who couldn't trust anyone she'd been. The Doctor himself had grown from the angry and bitter loner who tried to convince himself he didn't need anyone, and preferred being alone. What fools they'd been. And now, they were so enlightened.

Two lonely creatures had found each other when they most needed someone to hold on to. They'd forged a friendship and partnership through danger and compassion. They'd protected one another, healed one another and let the other cry on their shoulder. They'd traveled a long way and had gained many scars and still healed others. Through trial and doubt, they'd believed in the other and had grown stronger because of it. Through joy and loss, they'd realised their feelings.

And now, in the depths of time and space, they had each other and that was all they ever needed. Two creatures, content to exist and to help and to learn. And they could survive anything, because right now, each held the other in their kiss, and each knew that they would never again be alone.


End file.
